HP Biomonitoring Radiogenic Cancer Cluster Update: 05/01/23

9 min readFeb 26, 2022

HP Biomonitoring’s Radiogenic Cancer Cluster geospatially maps three cancer deaths in childhood residents living within the one mile perimeter of the Crisp Road entry to the system of Federal Superfund sites at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Parcel E-2 Industrial Landfill and Yosemite Slough between 2020 and 2022.

Mural — Industrial Region 3rd Street at Donner Avenue

In 2020 a two year old girl living on the Hunters Point hilltop nicknamed “Peaches” died of a rare childhood cancer. Her mother underwent radiation therapy for breast cancer in 2021. Both resided adjacent to Lennar Five Point’s excavation sites. According to a relative and expert witness to events, Lennar settled with the young mother who purchased a home and relocated in 2022. Relatives living on the Hunters Point hilltop have been invited to undergo biomonitoring screenings.

The EPA EJScreen is an advanced environmental justice mapping and screening tool that can be used to define the one mile perimeter encircling a known source of environmental contamination. Additionally, it estimates the population within the perimeter and defines the degree of impact by environmental justice and health indicators including NATA air toxic cancer risk, fine particulate and diesel particulates, traffic volume, proximity to hazardous waste sites, lead based paint exposure along with health impacts that include reduced life expectancy, asthma, infant mortality and cardiopulmonary diseases. The 94124 zip code at the Crisp Road and Revere Avenue entry to the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard has EJ indicators in the 90th to 100th percentile.

EPA EJScreen NATA Air Toxics in BVHP ranges from the 90th to 100th percentile as indicated by the vibrant use of yellow, orange and red indicator colors. This means that residents in this region experience a higher risk of cancer from exposure to air toxics like diesel that 90 to 100% of Americans.

**Youth v The Apocalypse — Earth Day April 2022 San Francisco City Hall**

The system of federal Superfund sites created by the historically documented radioactive and chemical contamination of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Parcel E-2 Industrial Landfill, southern shoreline and South Basin drains into the 2016 EPA designated Superfund site at Yosemite Slough.

A system of federal and state Superfund sites abuts the shoreline of south central Bayview Hunters Point where an estimated 25,000 people “live…work…play…and pray” within it’s one mile buffer zone.

HP Biomonitoring’s Radiogenic Cancer Cluster as of September 15, 2022. Note the concentration of cases along the historic corridor of entry to the Crisp Road campus of the US Naval Radiological Defense Laboratories and western fence line extending north to the Hunters Point hilltop and south to Yosemite Slough and the South Basin region of Candlestick Point. “Hot Spots” in the cluster include a dense concentration of cases along Quesada Avenue and in Building 606 where SFPD officers were stationed. Kevin Abbey v. United States of America Department of the Navy — a wrongful death lawsuit filed in Federal Court on behalf of over 300 officers details cancers of the brain, thyroid, lung, prostate and canine cancer deaths. Baby Girl Holmes died at age 2 from acute leukemia in 2020. She lived on West Point Road on the Hunters Point hilltop in the half mile buffer zone of the Crisp Road entry to the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard’s radiation contaminated southern shoreline and industrial landfill.

The Genova Diagnostics Comprehensive Urine Elements Profile Screening detects up to 35 “toxicants’ in a test that can be conducted at the site of exposure and mailed, in a prepaid FedEx envelope, to a national accredited laboratory with results returned in 7 to 10 days. Using biomarkers of radioactive and cancer causing chemicals detected in elevated concentrations, HP Biomonitoring began mapping the location of detections in residents and workers within the one mile perimeter of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in 2019. The mappings detect clusters at the main entry to the campus of a radiation laboratory and along the western fence line of a radiation contaminated landfill.

**Basewide Radiation Impaction Maps at the Hunters Point Biomonitoring Foundation’s office and medical screening clinic updated 05/01/23**

A 60 year old woman lives on the Hunters Point hilltop and serves voluntarily as orchard manager for a community garden was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2022 and underwent urinary screening that detects multiple radioactive biomarkers and carcinogenic heavy metals including elements with radioisotopes designated radionuclides of concern at HPNS. They include cadmium, cesium, thallium, strontium and radioactive potassium. Proposition 65 cancer causing chemicals are detected in enormously elevated concentrations including arsenic, nickel and heavy metals aluminum and copper. Signature elements detected frequently in screenings conducted on residents and workers within the one mile perimeter include rubidium, thallium, nickel, arsenic, manganese and vanadium.

**Fresh peach from a community garden — photo by M. Lee**

“San Francisco is still grappling with the complex and messy task of cleaning up radioactive contamination at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, in no small part because of the massive ( and massively unsuccessful) effort undertaken there to try and decontaminate USS Independence after the Operation Crossroads detonations.”

“Damaged by shock waves, heat and radiation, Independence survived the Bikini Atoll tests and, like dozens of other Operation Crossroads ships, returned to the United States in 1946…while moored at San Francisco’s Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Independence was the primary focus of the Navy’s studies on decontamination until age and the possibility of it’s sinking led the Navy to tow the blast-damaged carrier to sea for scuttling on January 26, 1951.”

Nuke blasted hulk of aircraft carrier USS Independence located off San Francisco coast. https://medium.com/@telstarlogistic/nuke-blasted-hulk-of-aircraft-carrier-uss-independence-located-off-san-francisco-coast-5c7bca4eca80.

**The historic Hunters Point Gantry Crane was the site of the docking of the USS Independence- described as the “bomb scarred radioactive hulk of the World War II era aircraft carrier”**

The Breast Cancer “Necklace” at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard

“Like a string of red pearls” — breast cancer indicator pins outline the perimeter of the federal Superfund system at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and Yosemite Slough. Note the tight cluster of three cases centered around the 3rd & Palou historic entry to the radiation laboratory and industrial landfill on the shipyards southern shoreline. A woman residing at 3rd and Quesada was 27 years old when diagnosed with breast cancer. The Atomic Bomb Survivors registry classifies breast cancer in women as young as 20 as radiogenic breast cancer. [Breast Cancer Epidemiology & Risk: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1697353-overview]

HP Biomonitoring’s “Breast Cancer Necklace” expanded in May of 2022 to include a woman diagnosed with breast cancer at age 27 while living at the intersection of 3rd and Quesada. Her father, at the same address, was diagnosed with prostate cancer and died in 2015 of colon cancer. Her mother — a nonsmoker -died of a chronic fibrosing lung disease caused by exposure to toxic air contaminants.

By May 1, 2023 the Hunters Point Shipyard “Breast Cancer Necklace” had expanded to include two women diagnosed with breast cancer in a neighborhood south of the heavily contaminated Parcel E-2 shoreline and South Basin extending westward into south central Bayview Hunters Point via Yosemite Slough Federal Superfund Site. The women were diagnosed while living in Alice Griffith Public Housing at Carroll Avenue. Additional clustering is evident at the northern Hunters Point hilltop at Mariners Village — a former NRDL site. Note the linear tracking of breast cancer cases along 3rd street with women documented on every block from Oakdale to Armstrong.

The beautiful Quesada Avenue Garden Initiative is located on a trajectory six blocks west of the radiation contaminated Parcel E-2 shoreline and industrial landfill. Urinary screenings conducted on a three year old boy, his mother and a gardner for the initiative detected alarming body burdens of radioactive and carcinogenic heavy metals documented by the Navy, EPA and listed as State of California Proposition 65 cancer causing chemicals.

The intersection of 3rd & Quesada is half a mile west of the fence line separating a densely populated neighborhood from the radiation contaminated shoreline of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, the Parcel E-2 Industrial Landfill and the campus of the US Naval Radiological Defense Laboratories.

Deep landfill and shoreline excavations conducted at the intersection of Quesada & Fitch six blocks east of 3rd Street and the Quesada Gardens Initiative. Photo by fence line resident Kelly Tankersley 10/28/23

The Quesada Avenue Garden Initiative is located along the median strip of Quesada Avenue. A three year old boy and his mother who ingest produce from the community garden underwent urinary toxic exposure screening detecting a body burden of carcinogenic heavy metals on the State of California Proposition 65 list and documented by the US Navy and EPA to be present in shipyard soils, landfills and media. The three year old boy has suffered from severe eczema since age six months. The common skin allergen nickel was detected in potentially toxic concentrations:

Alarming body burden detected in three year old who ingests produce from Quesada Gardens detects bismuth, nickel, tin, tungsten, copper, vanadium and zinc in concentrations at or exceeding allowable for the normal population. Also detected are mercury, cesium, rubidium and thallium.

Biomonitoring screening conducted on mother of three year old boy. Both live on Quesada Avenue and ingest produce from community garden. Note detection of aluminum, niobium, thallium, manganese in concentrations above reference range. Both mother and son have nickel detected in high normal concentrations. Both mother and son have cesium, rubidium and vanadium detected on urinary screening.

Urinary screening conducted on 20 year homeowner on Quesada Avenue and gardner for the Community Garden Initiative detects uranium in high normal concentrations. Iron, manganese and vanadium are detected in concentrations exceeding maximum allowable levels.

View From A Playground In Hunters Point!

Children’s playground located at the intersection of Palou Avenue at the Crisp Road entry to the Hunters Point Navals Shipyard, Building 800 series NRDL campus and Parcel E-2 shoreline and Industrial landfill — Federal Superfund Sites. The unfortified chain metal fence separating deep soil excavations and heavy equipment operations along Griffith Street is evident. A Washington Post news team led by race and environment journalist Darryl Fears captured photos of this region on July 9, 2022. A four year old boy died of brainstem cancer in April of 2022 who was born and lived on Navy Road three blocks north of where this photo was captured. Two year old “Baby Girl Peaches” died of a rare cancer in 2020. She lived a quarter of a mile north of this region on West Point Road.

Repeat urinary screening conducted on Hunters Point hilltop Kiska Road homeowner and retired Marine in July of 2022 documents worsening exposures to aluminum, arsenic, cesium, rubidium, thallium and manganese. The resident cared for her mother who died of brain cancer.

Children’s playground, public housing, private homes, churches, basketball courts, an infant daycare program and the neighborhood transit center at 3rd & Palou are within 50 feet to six blocks west of the Crisp Road Main gate entry to the most contaminated region of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard — a Federal Superfund site.

Photo obtained by Hunters Point hilltop resident of deep soil heavy equipment back hoe excavator within 15 feet of the unreinforced chain metal fence along Kiska Road. The Willie Mays Boys & Girls Club, Wu Yee children’s services, Westbrook Apartments, Hunters View public housing and private homes are located behind this fence. This photo and video evidence were submitted as a complaint to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District in June of 2020 and included as an exhibition in a Proposition 65 Legal Injunction filed by attorneys representing 9,000 plaintiffs in the Hunters Point Community Lawsuit. A four year old boy died of brain stem cancer in April of 2022. He was born and lived one block south of this photo on Navy Road. A two year old girl in the Holmes family died of acute leukemia in 2020. The family is located two blocks north of this region on West Point Road.

Navy heavy equipment vehicles rolling along the western panhandle region of the heavily contaminated Parcel E-2 shoreline within feet of residents, playgrounds, churches and the major transit hub at 3rd & Palou. Photo taken by a fence line resident at Revere & Fitch June 10, 2021

Cancer survivors Mary Ratcliff & Misha Irizarry embrace in solidarity at the Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring program medical screening clinic located at 5021 3rd Street at Revere in April of 2022.

Long time resident and community leader diagnosed with acute leukemia and given “weeks to live” underwent repeat urinary screening that documents worsening exposures to mercury, aluminum, antimony, cadmium, platinum, rubidium, tin, tungsten, copper and manganese.

Radioactive biomarkers, carcinogenic heavy metals and products of nuclear fission detected in residents and workers in high concentrations clustered along the corridor of entry to the HPNS radiation laboratory complex, industrial landfill and shoreline and along the western fence line of the base north to the Hunters Point hilltop and south to Yosemite Slough and the South Basin. Updated 05/01/23

The western fence line at the boundary with the federal Superfund system has emerged as a “hotspot” in HP Biomonitoring’s Radioactive Biomarker and Radiogenic Cancer Clusters.

State of California employees and a densely population community of an estimated 25,000 people are within feet of a radiation contaminated shoreline and industrial landfill - separately designated a federal Superfund site.

Circular shaped cancer clusters -similar in format to the HP Biomonitoring “breast cancer necklace-” have been documented in Boston and Philadelphia. At the epicenter of the cancer clusters in all three cities sits a landfill or toxic dump!

The brain of a child is a radiosensitive organ.

**African Orthodox Church original artwork — Madonna & Child on display in foyer of Hunters Point Biomonitoring Foundation.**

A four year old boy living on the Hunters Point hilltop overlooking the former headquarters of the US Naval Radiological Defense Laboratories died of brain cancer in April of 2022. HP Biomonitoring has identified a cluster of brain tumors called gliomas in this region. Gliomas have been proven, in human and animal studies, to be induced by exposure to radioactive and carcinogenic heavy metals.

In September 2021, 10 year old Sammy Johnson died of an aggressive form of brain cancer — a diffuse pontine glioma that infiltrated his brainstem that paralyzed him and arrested his ability to breath, speak and swallow within seven months of diagnosis.

The brain tumor cluster includes the minister of a church located 500 feet west of deep soil excavations and heavy equipment operations conducted by both the Navy and developer Lennar/Five Point at Parcel A-2 and E-2. It also includes an Oakdale homeowner, former elected member of the shipyards Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) and SF Chronicle newspaper employee.
Tony Montoya, former President of the Police Officers Association, underwent emergency brain surgery to relieve life threatening compression of his brainstem by a tumor presumed to be a glioma while working in Building 606 on the Parcel E shoreline.

**Tony Montoya — President SFPD POA [https://www.sfchronicle.com/bay/area/article/SF-let-shipyard-cops-work-amid-tons-of-toxic-13375196.php**

Saul Bloom — Executive Director of Arc Ecology, died of a glioblastoma in 2016 after documenting in the legal journal Verdict his exposure to carcinogenic heavy metals while working at Astoria Metals on Drydock 4. Bloom successfully sued the Navy and ultimately shut down hazardous operations of Astoria Metals after a decade long civil action.

**Saul Bloom — Executive Director Arc Ecology Died July 16, 2016 of a Glioblastoma Brain Cancer** **after documenting his exposure to carcinogenic heavy metals at Drydock four in the legal journal The Verdict.**

In April, Community organizer Tiffany Williams disclosed to ABC news she had been diagnosed with both thyroid cancer and a brainstem glioma by age 29. Williams grew up on Yosemite Avenue adjacent to Yosemite Slough and lives on the Hunters Point hilltop. The family of the four year old boy who died of brain cancer in April of 2022 are her neighbors.

In September of 2021, 10 year old Sammy Johnson died of a brainstem glioma in the family home at Palou and Quint.

**https://sfbayview.com/2021/09/help-the-family-of-10-year-old-sammy-johnson-who-died-in-his-mothers-arms-of-a-brain-tumor/**

Additionally, multiple meningiomas and tumors of the pituitary and auditory nerve are documented in the HP Biomonitoring brain tumor cluster.

**HP Biomonitoring conducted urinary screening on woman living 50 feet from western fence line panhandle region who captured the photo of backhoe excavations at the landfill on August 11. 2021**

Deep soil excavations at the northwestern boundary of the Parcel E-2 industrial landfill documented by a resident who lives 50 feet from this unreinforced fence line. A four year old boy born on Navy Road in housing sited north of these environmental violations died in April of 2022 of a brain tumor linked to carcinogenic heavy metal exposure.

The UCSF Facility located in former NRDL animal kennel Building 830 at 75 Crisp Road is within 250 feet of the Parcel E-2 landfill. North of Building 830 on the Hunters Point hilltop a four year old boy died of a brain cancer in April. Less than a mile west of the complex a 10 year old boy died of a similar type of brainstem cancer in September of 2021. Southeast of the facility the San Francisco Police Department documents two cases of brain cancer.

A UCSF internal investigation concluded in 2021 confirms the detection of cesium, radium, thorium and daughters of uranium in dust employees complained enveloped their cars, cafeteria, worksites and kennels documented in a 2018 internal report:

EPA EJScreen Environmental Mapping Tool Air Toxics Cancer Risk ranks in the 95th to 100th percentile in the region of the Palou Avenue to Crisp Road historic main entry to the Hunters Point Shipyard southern shoreline and western fence line where a cluster of cancers proven to be induced by ionizing radiation and cancer causing heavy metals that have been mapped and detected on urinary toxic exposure screens by the Hunters Point Biomonitoring Program since 2019.

**Earth Day 2022 — Youth vs The Apocalypse…to the rescue!**

HP Biomonitoring relocated to scenic Candlestick Cove in San Francisco Executive Park. Our new address is 150 Executive Park Boulevard Suite 1000.

HP Biomonitoring founder & PI awarded the UCSF Medical Alumna of the Year 2021 at an elegant ceremony held at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero on April 30, 2022. Dr. Sumchai was awarded the KPIX/CBS Jefferson Award — the “local Nobel Prize” in 2020.

Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai founded the Radiological Subcommittee of the Hunters Point Shipyard Restoration Advisory Board in August of 2001 and contributed to the finalization of the Hunters Point Shipyard Historical Radiological Assessment released in August 2004.

**https://sfbayview.com/2022/03/hp-biomonitoring-promising-hope-for-hunters-point/**

References:

https://www.bracpmo.navy.mil/content/dam/bracpmo/california/former_naval_shipyard_hunters_point/pdfs/all_documents/environmental_documents/radiological/hps_200408_hra.pdf

Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle Climate Crisis: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-protecting-public-health-and-environment-and-restoring-science-to-tackle-climate-crisis/

Human Biomonitoring (HBM) and Geospatial Mapping Applied to Determining Imminent and Proximate Threat to Human Safety at a federal Superfund System: https://ahimsaportersumchaimd.medium.com/human-biomonitoring-hbm-and-geospatial-mapping-applied-to-determining-imminent-and-proximate-de782db93e3d

The Landfill In Our Bodies:https://sfbayview.com/2020/04/the-landfill-in-our-bodies/

San Francisco Doctor Researches Impact of Toxic Dump: https://youtu.be/RF_f2nKONzA

Basic Geodesy: GIS Fundamentals and Mapping: https://youtu.be/mQXVJNeItr4

Brain Cancer Geospatial Mapping: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259029112100098X

Hunters Point Biomonitoring ROC Cluster Youtube: https://youtu.be/vklKtBhz6ew

Youtube Video Archive Proposition 65 Violations — Western Fence Line Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Parcel A-2 & Parcel E-2: 1.https://youtu.be/o4dA5pzfwUU 2.https://youtu.be/YFujuHHPPRX 3. https://youtu.be/HwSOp6AgPuU 4. https://youtube.com/shorts/g0bPMSsznZ4?feature+share

The Landfill In Our Bodies:

Atomic Bomb Registry: https://www.genken.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/abcenter/database/index_e.html

Atomic Bomb Long Term Effects: https://k1project.columbia.edu/news/hiroshima-and-nagasaki-long-term-health-effects-cloned

VA Environmental Registry: https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/benefits/registry-evaluation.asp

Cancer Incidence in Three Communities Near the Maywood Area Superfund Sites: https://www.state.nj.us/health/ceohs/documents/ecohap/haz_sites/bergen/maywood/maywood_chem_co/maywood_study_3_98.pdf

Brain Cancer Biomonitoring in Bayview Hunters Point: https://sfbayview.com/2021/03/brain-cancer-biomonitoring-in-bayview-hunters-point/

Abbey et al vs US Navy at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard: https://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/3:2020cv06443/365853?amp

Hunters Point Community Lawsuit: https://hunterspointcommunitylawsuit.com/

World Trade Center Health Program — CDC- United States 2012–2020: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/ss/ss7004a1.htm

Proposition 65 List of chemicals: https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65

Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring Program: https://hunters-point-community-biomonitoring-program.business.site/

CDC Cancer Clusters: https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/clusters/about.htm

California Cancer Registry: https://www.ccrcal.org/submit-data/cancer-registrars-hospitals-and-facilities/reporting-by-cancer-registrars/reporting-resources-library/contact-a-regional-registry/

Environmental and Health Effects of Nuclear Industry: a Current Evaluation: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6765303

CaliforniaDiseaseClusters:https://assets/nrdc.org/sites/default/files/california_diseaseclusters.pdf

Cancer Alley at the Hunters Point Shipyard:https://sfbayview.com/2022/01/cancer-alley-at-the-hunters-point-shipyard/

Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry: https://cancerregistry.ucsf.edu

Flint Registry: https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/programs/flint-registry.htm

Mortality Among Coast Guard Shipyard Workers: A retrospective cohort study of specific exposures: Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health: Vol 73, No 1: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10/1080/19338244.2017.12898

An Insider Tour of the Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring Program” https://sfbayview.com/2020/09/an-insider-tour-of-the-hunters-point-community-biomonitoring-program/

https://alumni.ucsf.edu/stories/ahimsa-porter-sumchai