Downey Toxic Dump Site - LA Press Conference

Downey Toxic Dump Site - LA Press Conference, 8/12/09 On August 12, 2009 Injured Downey California movie and Kasier healthcare workers participated in a press conference about the continuing healthcare crisis and cover-up of the Downey toxic dump site. An injured actor who worked on the site in June also came to the press conference and reported on his health symptoms as a result of his work on the site. Injured Downey Workers To Speak At LA Press Club About Downey Toxic Dump Site Downey Studios and Kaiser Permanente Injured Workers Demand Answers and Adequate Health Care Following Life Altering Injuries from Toxic Dump Site Los Angeles, CA - Injured and ill-treated workers come together to speak out against the injustices they faced as employees of Downey Studios and Kaiser Permanente Downey. Unknown to a Senior Orthopedic technician and movie studio prop workers, they made their daily living working on a highly contaminated Brownfield site that contained TCE, PCE, and arsenic amongst 250 other chemicals as well as mold. The irreparably injured workers are union members from IATSE Local 44, LIUNA 724 and SEIU UHW as well as other unions. Many injured workers are now disabled and need medical care which is unavailable to them. Recent Los Angeles Times reports have brought their tragic story to the forefront of the public discussion. The injured and now disabled workers are coming together for the first time publicly to state their case before the court of public opinion. Government documents show that this work site was once a former NASA base/aerospace facility which had been used to develop neutron bombs, rocket fuel, missiles, delta rockets, and was the site of the first nuclear reactor in the State of California. Now, it is the worksite for movie industry workers and hospital employees and their patients. The injured and disabled workers have reached out to their elected officials and their elected officials have not reached back to them. Meanwhile, the imminent plans for the toxic site include the construction of future apartments. Wednesday August 12, 2009 4:00 PM Los Angeles Press Club 4773 Hollywood Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90027-5333 Downey Injured Movie/Kaiser Workers Speak Out About Toxic Dump Site Disaster On Wednesday August 12, 2009 at 4:00 PM at the Los Angeles Press Club injured workers will be speaking out about their injuries and struggle for healthcare and justice at the privatized Brownfield Downey Toxic Dump site. The former military/NASA site was supposed to be properly cleaned up by the City of Downey and developer Stuart Lichter, but this was not done and as a result of this, many injured workers from the Downey Studios, LLC., Dreamworks SKG., DreamWorks Production, LLC., and the Downey Kaiser Hospital Complex have been seriously sickened by the toxins, dangerous chemicals, radioactive material and molds at the site. These workers included members of IATSE Local 44, LIUNA 724 and SEIU UHW as well as other unions at the toxic site. These workers will report on their injuries and their effort to have Ca-OSHA, the EPA and other government agencies to properly supervise health and safety protection and the clean-up after the transfer of this NASA government site to private interests. There will also be a report on the ongoing Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation SLAPP filed by Stuart Lichter against injured workers and advocates of injured workers to silence them about their injuries and the dangers of the Downey toxic dump. Evidence will be presented that show that many government officials and elected officials including Congressman Henry Waxman, Senators Feinstein and Boxer, Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger, Attorney General Jerry Brown and Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner have been provided with the information and refused to either meet with the workers and or investigate the serious health hazards. This also has national implications since these privatized Brownfield toxic sites have been spread throughout the country and similar health care problems have surfaced at sites owned by Stuart Lichter and other toxic site developers. Injured workers and their advocates are calling for national Congressional Hearings on the privatization of highly toxic Brownfield sites and how this program has impacted workers, veterans and communities. A recent article in the Los Angeles Times provided information about some of the workers who will be speaking at this press conference. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-downey2-2009aug02,0,5980999.story http://www.salem-news.com/articles/august022009/downey_exposure_8-2-09.php http://downey.kaiserpapers.info/ http://letsintroduceourselves.us/wordpress/ Hosted by California Coalition For Workers Memorial Day CCWMD P.O. Box 720027 San Francisco, CA 94172 (415)867-0628 lvpsf@igc.org www.workersmemorialday.org