“NASSAU COUNTY (WABC) — Dust samples from the attics of 12 homes in Bethpage, Levittown, and Plainview tested positive for an airborne, cancer-causing chemical, according to environmental experts retained by a law firm that is attempting to file a class action lawsuit against Northrop Grumman for polluting the air around its Bethpage manufacturing plant decades ago.

The samples were taken in March and May and showed evidence of hexavalent chromium in the dust in the residents’ attics.

Hexavalent chromium is produced during many industrial processes and can cause a variety of cancers. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration calls the chemical “toxic” and has extensive requirements on how employers are supposed to protect workers from it.

Stephanie Ciambra Ball’s childhood home in Bethpage tested positive.

“You always saw smoke,” Ciambra Ball recalled growing up near the factory. “We didn’t think about it. You always heard the turbines going.”

Source- abc7