L.A. residents ferret out toxic sites for researchers
Marcela Herrera wiped sweat from her nose as the screeching sound of a saw cutting lumber mixed with mariachi music blaring from a house across the street. Clipboard in hand, Herrera jotted down addresses in this Pacoima neighborhood where lumber, steel, ironworks and heavy equipment rental shops operate near homes.
A few blocks away she noted a child care center, where youngsters played outside in air that reeked of a chemical.
"There are a lot of hazardous waste sites around my house," Herrera said in Spanish through an interpreter. "I wanted to do something to help out."
Frustrated because she must keep her asthma- and bronchitis-suffering daughters indoors to protect their health, Herrera recently joined a cadre of northeastern San Fernando Valley residents to catalog the location of industrial businesses and their proximity to gathering places for young and elderly residents, who could be most affected by contaminated air and water.
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