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Students, staff say UCSD building causes cancer

Posted at 7:34 PM, Jun 03, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-03 22:34:05-04

Students say a building a UC San Diego is making people sick and causing cancer.

It has been a subject of controversy at the university for years.

A new petition is asking for an additional study into the Literature Building and for those who work in the building to be moved to another location.

Teaching assistant Juan Carmona spends about 10 hours a week inside the building.

“I am also concerned about working in an environment where people are worried and scared,” Carmona said.

A study commissioned by UCSD in 2009 found breast cancer rates for people who work in the building four to five times higher than those who do not work in the building. This year, Carmona says two more people were diagnosed with cancer. One of those people is his friend.

UCSD released this statement to Team 10:

The University of California San Diego is deeply concerned about the health and safety of its students, faculty and staff who work in the Literature Building, as well as in other buildings and work spaces across campus. In response to such concerns, the university took action. In 2009, upon learning of individual reports of cancer among people who had worked in the Literature Building during the period of 1991-2008, UC San Diego turned to several organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO) for a recommended expert to perform an in-depth investigation. The California National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health also conducted a Health Hazard Evaluation on the Literature Building. UC San Diego’s Environment, Health & Safety Division, and members of the Department of Literature, interviewed several investigators and selected Dr. Leeka Kheifets, professor of epidemiology in the UCLA School of Public Health and former head of the Radiation Studies Program at WHO to perform the assessment. The reports and outcomes can be viewed here.