Bronx landfill cancer lawsuit backed by state court

By Holly Fleming

Published on June 09, 2006

The residents claim that 13 of their children developed leukemia or Hodgkin's disease from chemical exposure. The lawsuit was filed in 1991, and three of the children have since died.

The Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court ruled that the methodology used by toxicologists and epidemiologists hired by the plaintiffs met the standard of "general acceptance in the scientific community" required for the case to go to trial.

The city said it would appeal, and argued that the Bronx residents had not proven a connection between the cancer cases and the landfill.

The families lived near the 81-acre Pelham Bay landfill. The site was managed by the city's Department of Sanitation from 1963 until its closure in 1979.

The residents claim that the city permitted companies to illegally dump chemical and industrial wastes into a landfill that was designed solely for household wastes, and that the toxic chemicals spread out into the surrounding land and water.

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