The Background:
The residents of the Washingtonville neighborhood in the Village of Mamaroneck New York became deeply concerned when three residents living next door to each were diagnosed with thyroid cancer within just a matter of months. Given the neighborhood’s proximity to industrial businesses and the incidence of riverine flooding, residents are reasonably concerned about the presence of environmental toxins and their potential to cause cancer. As a result, the residents organized to reinvigorate the Washingtonville Neighborhood Association (“WNA”) and began to hold regular meetings. Based on conversations among residents it became clear that there is a potential cancer cluster in the neighborhood. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) define a cancer cluster as a greater-than-expected number of cancer cases that occurs within a group of people in a defined geographic area over a specific period of time.
The Mission Statement:
The mission and purpose of the Washingtonville Community is to raise awareness of a potential cancer cluster in the community and to advocate for government funding to obtain comprehensive environmental testing. Residents believe that in order to validate the existence of a cancer cluster and other health impacts that the soil, river water, ground water, aquifer water, drinking water and air within a one-mile radius of Washington Street needs to be tested for environmental toxins.
Right Now - Today :
To date, we have identified approximately 21 different cancers in the Washingtonville area from 1st hand accounts, and the cancer number is slowly increasing. There has been an environmental impact and source causing our cancer cluster situation in the immediate flood zone. Environmental contamination from flooding has significantly disrupted ecosystems, posed health risks, and created an unhealthy environment for the Washingtonville residents for the past few decades. Evidence suggests through our data collection that contaminated environmental sources have possibly contributed to the Washingtonville community cancer cluster situation. Without immediate environmental testing and analysis by our local government, the cancer cluster and health issues could rise over time along with the environmental abuse in the community undetected. It is way past due and crucial to implement environmental testing and analysis policies on a regular basis especially after each flood event. The Village of Mamaroneck needs to invest seriously in our environmental cleanup challenges and perform regular testing and analysis in the public domain. By working collaboratively with the local residents of Washingtonville, we can restore some sort of balance to our environment, end the environmental abuse of the Village Rivers and protect our children through environmental testing so we can better secure a healthier community presently while proactively protecting our future generations. The waiting game is over the time is NOW to act.