Brevard schools want more guidance on cancer-causing chemicals

Board members to to draft letter to state regulators

VIERA, Fla. – Brevard County school board members decided Tuesday night to send a letter to state regulators to ask them what levels of possible cancer-causing chemicals are safe.

The move comes after board member Tina Descovich said staff members asked regulators in Tallahassee if the groundwater they used to water vegetation was safe even though it contained trace amounts of the chemicals.

"The state came back and said, 'Yes, it’s OK because you have low levels,'" she said. "Kind of a vague statement."

Tuesday night, board members decided to write the letter as a team with the city of Cocoa Beach and Satellite Beach and possibly Brevard County government leaders.

They said they want state regulators to not just set guidelines for what's safe, but to do what they said many states have already done and set actual limits.

The move came the same day the city of Cocoa Beach grabbed more samples of reclaimed water and sewage water.

"The next step for the city is to complete additional testing, which we hope to have done within the next two weeks," Cocoa Beach City Manager Jim McKnight told News 6 media partner Florida Today .

He said he hopes to have the results back within a month.

All of this was sparked by concerns from a former Satellite Beach High School student who said she was worried that so many of her former classmates, including herself, were being diagnosed with cancer.

That prompted fears of a possible cancer cluster in Brevard County.


About the Author:

Erik Sandoval joined the News 6 team as a reporter in May 2013 and became an Investigator in 2020. During his time at News 6, Erik has covered several major stories, including the 2016 Presidential campaign. He was also one of the first reporters live on the air at the Pulse Nightclub shooting.

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