After LA fires “toxic soup” in the homes that remain

By Nicole Colinski, special for Calmatters

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A few days after the September 11 attacks, the Environmental Protection Agency assured New Yorkers that the air near Ground Zero is Breathing safeS Tragically It wasn’t true.

In 24 years thereafter studies associated a toxic exposure in Manhattan with Raising rates of cancer Among the first respondents, residents, office workers and students. Thousands have died and thousands are more sick. The Federal Fund for Compensation of Victims has pay nearly $ 15 billion to more than 65,000 people.

Today, the Californians are confronted with a similar crisis of public health-this time this time it unfolds in communities that have enchanted fires. And insurers make things worse.

Eaton and Palisades’s recent fires destroyed, damaged or made inaccessible About 15,000 homes. About 75,000 remain to stand in both perimeters of fireAnd many look safe and intact.

But environmental hygienists say these homes in the fire department who have escaped the general loss are still built with toxic residues including Cyanide and asbestos, as well as heavy metals such as manganese, lithium, beryllium, lead, arsenic, cobalt and volatile organic compounds.

Like toxic soup at ground zero, these compounds are extremely dangerous, especially in combination. They can settle deep into the lungs, enter the bloodstream and cause cancer, strokes and long -term neurological diseases.

In many homes, these toxins have penetrated walls, furniture, heating and air -conditioning systems in ways that cannot be completely eradicated. These houses will have to be stripped of the studs or demolished.

Still, insurers tell families that it is safe to resume homes – according to testing thresholds determined by their own contractual suppliers. Their version of “Safe”, like EPA after September 11, does not match science, nor protects people on the spot.

The newly formed insurance coalition seeks to keep these insurers to report, to shine light on these invisible dangers, and to push regulators to accept higher, science-supported safety standards.

Why is there such a break between dangerous environmental realities and what insurance companies are ready to test and cover? The answer is profit.

Following the record -breaking fires in California in 2017 and 2018, many insurers quietly rewrite policies to Turn off or strongly limit Fire -prone areas. After the latest fires often insurers refused to cover the testing For asbestos, lead and heavy metals, unless there was visible physical damage.

Even the fair plan, the California insurer for the last resort, tried to protect his assets by rejecting laboratory tests. A recent court decision found a fair plan has been refused illegally claims For damage that was not visible or detected by odor.

This narrow definition of damage is a common tactic of the industry. Insurers avoid paying for comprehensive tests and removal that science says is necessary. They redefine the risk instead of recognizing the true scope of pollution and long -term health effects.

As the Californians are confronted with this invisible crisis, the state must work to close the difference between what insurers claim is safe and what science proves is safe for families who want to return home. This is not a call for panic; This is a call for accountability and decisive action.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.