Cancer Cluster Alleged

Moving on from chromium 6 in the waters of Hinkley, Calif., Erin Brockovich now has her eye on Beverly Hills High School and what she says appears to be a high rate of cancer among graduates.

Brockovich (the real one, not the celluloid version) and attorney Ed Masry (ditto) say they are preparing a lawsuit against the city of Beverly Hills, the Beverly Hills Unified School District and three oil companies. Among the plaintiffs, Brockovich said, will be alumni of Beverly Hills High who have been or are being treated for various cancers.

The case will blame the cancers on polluted air in and around the school’s athletic fields and bleachers, Brockovich and Masry said. They suspect the source of the bad air to be an active oil-drilling rig on the campus.

Evidence that the air actually is bad, however, is unclear. After being contacted by a TV station earlier this month, the South Coast Air Quality Management District collected several air samples at the site but found no evidence of unusually high levels of toxic pollutants.

The oil rig, shrouded in panels painted with brightly colored flowers, has long operated at the northwest corner of Spalding Drive and Olympic Boulevard and lately has produced about 450 barrels of oil and 400,000 cubic feet of natural gas a day. Last year, the school district received $312,000 in royalties from the operation.

The story about Beverly Hills High was first reported Feb. 10 in a sweeps-month segment on KCBS-TV (Channel 2) that rattled city and school district officials in the famously wealthy enclave. David M. Orbach, an attorney for the school district, said the segment spread panic among students, parents and administrators.

“Right now there’s a threat of pending litigation, which appears to be driving this matter,” he said.

Air quality officials did find that Venoco, the rig’s small independent operator, was improperly venting natural gas. At their request, Venoco shut down the rig on Feb. 6. As of Friday, technical problems were preventing the company from restarting it.

According to Venoco Vice President Michael G. Edwards, Beverly Hills Oil Co. developed the current site in the early 1980s. It sold its interest to Wainoco, a Texas-based company, in 1985. Venoco, based in Carpinteria, bought the interest in 1995 and has operated the site’s 19 wells since then, producing oil that is pumped to a refinery in Long Beach and natural gas that is sold via pipeline to Southern California Gas Co.

On Friday, the city of Beverly Hills and the school district announced on the district’s Web site that they will launch a study to determine whether any relationship exists between oil production at the 2,100-student high school campus and the illnesses of some former students. Regional air quality officials say they plan to continue testing.

Brockovich’s interest in the case was sparked by the experience of Lori Moss, a 1992 graduate of Beverly Hills High who was diagnosed in 1996 with Hodgkin’s disease, a cancer of the lymph system, and then a year ago with thyroid cancer.

Several months ago, Moss stood in line for three hours to meet Brockovich at a book signing and told her about her cancers. Soon after that encounter, Moss said she called Brockovich -- “because I was enthralled by her” -- but did not hear back.

Later, Brockovich attended an event where someone suggested that she check out what was going on at Beverly Hills High. Brockovich then called Moss, who related that she had met another Beverly Hills High graduate, Dana Goodman, who was also battling Hodgkin’s, at her doctor’s office. (Both women are now in remission from the Hodgkin’s.)

“All of a sudden, people I knew were telling me they had had cancer,” Moss said. “They all went to Beverly.”

Moss said she has tracked down 40 Beverly Hills High alums who have been diagnosed with cancer. A few graduated in the 1970s, but most finished in the mid-1980s to 1997.

Brockovich and Masry, meanwhile, solicited information on the Masry & Vititoe Web site. They say they have 85 “confirmed cancers,” including 30 instances of Hodgkin’s disease, 15 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and 24 thyroid cases.

“The figures we have are off the chart compared to the national average,” Masry said.

The typical incidence of the cancers would range from about two to 15 cases per year for every 100,000 people, according to one Los Angeles oncologist.

If the Beverly Hills cases are verified, they would be out of a smaller base, probably fewer than 10,000 graduates over the last 15 or so years.

Even if Masry’s figures are accurate, however, cancers could be caused by factors other than air pollution.

And reports of cancer clusters are notoriously difficult to nail down. In some cases, apparent clusters of cancers have been found that have no discernable cause.

Masry and Brockovich say they sent an environmental specialist to the campus, who collected a series of samples over several months. They say the samples, analyzed by an independent laboratory, showed extremely high levels of toxins, including benzene.

Regional air quality officials say their own testing has revealed no such abnormal levels.

“Our dilemma is we have some reported samples from the high school that we have been unable to verify, and ... our own samples indicate significantly different results to date,” said Barry R. Wallerstein, the air district’s executive officer.

The case is bringing attention once again to Brockovich, who burst onto the national media scene after Julia Roberts portrayed her in the 2000 film “Erin Brockovich.”

The movie grossed more than $125 million domestically and resulted in a best-actress Oscar for Roberts. It showcased Brockovich as a low-level investigator for trial lawyer Masry whose work was the catalyst for a $333-million settlement by Pacific Gas & Electric for polluting the waters of Hinkley, near Barstow, with chromium 6.

Since then, the onetime flat-broke Brockovich has become a top motivational speaker and author.

Brockovich’s TV show “Final Justice” premiered in January on Lifetime TV.

“I question Brockovich’s motives,” said Susan Wiener Berk, whose two sons attend Beverly Hills High. “If they’ve known about this for a number of months and these are our children, why wouldn’t they bring it to our attention immediately?”

She recalled that, years ago, a scare about a high incidence of cancer had people focusing on an orthodontist whom many of the cancer sufferers had seen as children. No link was ever shown.

Still, she acknowledged that she is concerned and eager for more information.

Her son Matthew Berk, a senior, said the story has died down among his schoolmates. “We thought it was a publicity stunt by Erin Brockovich,” he said.

Feeding the notion that an “Erin Brockovich in Beverly Hills” sequel might be in the offing was a blurb in Army Archerd’s column Thursday in Variety, which quoted Brockovich as saying film rights for this latest case were “up for grabs.”

But Brockovich said Friday that the comment was made in jest and that her interest lies in ensuring the health of Beverly Hills High students and alums.

“The benefit I get out of this,” she said, “is that I sleep at night.”