If It Was Your Child is currently organizing an independent environmental investigation, with a residential sampling sign-up. Do you think the results will help to get traction at the state and federal level?
I think private testing has been pivotal to getting federal and state agencies moving in our community. We went to both state and local officials in June of 2017 with a cancer-cluster specialist and a chemical engineer/hydrogeologist who had previously worked for the EPA. We showed them documents at that time that were troubling. The experts told officials there were significant areas of concern with the multiple sites near the cluster of childhood-cancer cases. No one listened or took any significant action to investigate. Not until our test results came out on July 16, 2018, ironically on what would have been Emma Grace's 17th birthday, did any agency take any real action to determine if the contamination was off-site.
What can moms do if they are put in the position of protecting their children from environmental harm?
Follow your mom gut. We have been told for years now that we were overreacting. Once our tests results came out, it was clear everyone else had been under-reacting. You can use your deep love and fierce protectiveness for your kids to drive you emotionally, but you can also use science, data, and research to ensure you are moving in the right direction.
There are many times when this has been incredibly hard and I wanted to walk away. My emotional drive, in those times, comes deeply from my love for my children and the inspiration of Emma's fight and determination.
Photo: Courtesy of Katie Plummer
This article originally appeared on the website Moms Clean Airforce.
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