LOS ANGELES - High levels of uranium, lithium and a synthetic chemical used to make plastics were present in the urine and hair samples of residents who live near the site of the massive 2015 Aliso Canyon natural gas leak, according to results released by a local physician.

The long-awaited, independent health study by Dr. Jeffrey Nordella, who practiced in Porter Ranch, showed a pattern of symptoms from patients he followed and tested just after the leak was capped in February 2016 and then months later, up until this year, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.

More than 300 people packed the Hilton Hotel in Woodland Hills to listen to Nordella’s presentation, and many gasped as he showed them charts with patterns of substances that he found in hair and urine of patients he had tested and followed, including styrene, a derivative of benzene, which is a known carcinogen. Chronic exposure to styrene leads to tiredness and lethargy, memory deficits, headaches and vertigo. Nordella also said:
• Of 106 patients whose urine was tested, 31 percent had a presence of styrene at higher than average levels.
• Of the first 51 patients Nordella followed just after the gas leak, 34 percent experienced nosebleeds. Of the 72 he followed months after the leak was capped, 31 percent — nearly the same number — still experienced nosebleeds.
• In 26 homes, lithium was detected in the LADWP water supply, while in non-LADWP water, there were no detectable levels of lithium.
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While urine samples showed elevated levels of styrene and ethylbenzene, hair samples revealed uranium, which can be naturally occurring, but was higher in Porter Ranch residents, and lithium. Nordella said the results of the hair samples “were statistically significant when compared to averages in the rest of California as well as the United States” which he added supported evidence of patients’ long-term exposure.

Story Date: October 20, 2017