R A D I O B I L I N G Ü E

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                             

November 18, 2009                                                                                                       

CONTACT:

Kenia Chavez

                                                                                                                              Marketing Coordinator

                                                                                                                559. 455.5763

                                                                                                                                   kenia@radiobilingue.org

Radio Bilingüe investigative report examines hazardous site’s possible link to birth defects in Kettleman City

Four mothers grant exclusive interviews; toxicologist calls for investigation

Over a recent 14 month period in Kettleman City, California, five babies were born with cleft lip and palate. Could there be a link to a hazardous waste landfill located in nearby Kettleman Hills?

That is the focus of a Radio Bilingüe investigative report that will air this week -- first on the national community radio network’s award-winning Línea Abierta talk show at noon PST on Thursday, Nov. 19, and then to kick off a series of investigative feature stories on Edición Semanaria at 4 p.m. PST on Friday, Nov. 20.

The mothers of four of the Kettleman City babies born with cleft lip and palate granted exclusive interviews to Radio Bilingüe, and two will tell their story live on the national talk show Thursday.

The report is part of Radio Bilingüe’s environmental reporting series, Aire Libre, which covers air and water pollution stories as well as environmental justice issues facing Latino communities.

It follows in the tradition of ongoing Radio Bilingüe news coverage the past two decades portraying struggles by Kettleman City residents -- predominantly Latino with more than 90 percent speaking Spanish at home -- as they successfully opposed a hazardous waste incinerator also operated by the garbage conglomerate Waste Management.

Now the Kettleman residents have been fighting to block a proposed expansion of the toxic waste landfill that was recently approved by county authorities amid protests that community members have been disenfranchised when meetings were held out of town and by lack of representation on the local advisory committee.

The cleft lip and palate investigative report focuses on the five babies born between September 2007 to November 2008 and how residents are demanding an investigation into the possibility of a connection between the birth defects and the Chemical Waste Management, Inc., Kettleman Hills Facility.

“The Radio Bilingüe news team has monitored this situation closely since the early 1990s and has worked to provide a thorough and balanced look at the issue,” said Samuel Orozco, executive producer and host.  “The Linea Abierta show will provide listeners an up-close and personal insight to how this community grassroots action is playing out.”

Radio Bilingüe environmental reporter Zaidee Rose Stavely spearheaded the journalistic inquiry into the matter with testimony from four of the five mothers. She also interviewed county and state officials and a toxicologist, whose expertise includes evaluating the links between environmental factors and birth defects. The toxicologist says this number of cases in such a small town is alarming and should be investigated.

“So far, the residents have received no answer to their demands,” Stavely said. “The California Department of Public Health says it is investigating the defects, but no one has gone to interview family members as of yet.”

For the talk show Thursday, Stavely will join host Orozco to conduct on-air interviews with two of the mothers. The program also will include interviews with the toxicologist and a Waste Management representative. County and state health authorities have also been invited to offer their insights.

Stavely, who has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, said the ongoing series of feature stories will continue with a closer look into the expansion of the landfill, as well as other possible environmental factors relating to these birth defects. She also plans on future stories for the series to follow the promised investigation by public health authorities.

Funds for Línea Abierta are provided in part by The California Wellness Foundation, The California Endowment, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

For more information, contact Kenia Chavez at 559.455.5763 or visit www.radiobilingue.org.

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About Radio Bilingüe 

Radio Bilingüe is a community-based radio network with a satellite system that reaches 125 affiliates throughout the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico as well as its own six stations in California. Radio Bilingüe provides audiences with news, information and cultural programming from its award-winning programs Noticiero Latino and Línea Abierta. Programming is also available via webcast on Radio Bilingüe Internet: www.radiobilingue.org. The network’s online service features links to program audio archives, podcasting multimedia files, timely news transcripts, several interactive blogs, hyperlinks to relevant organizations and more.

Funds for Radio Bilingüe's news services are provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The California Endowment, the James Irvine Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, The California Wellness Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.