Federal Investigators Target Pesticides After Rare Cancer Cluster Strikes Orange County Children

A Community in Fear

A wealthy Southern California enclave is grappling with a deeply alarming health crisis after at least six adolescents in Ladera Ranch — an unincorporated master-planned community in Orange County — have been diagnosed since 2013 with Ewing sarcoma, an exceedingly rare bone and soft-tissue cancer. Investigators later learned of about a dozen rare cancer cases in children across Ladera Ranch and other nearby Orange County cities. To put the scale of this in perspective: only about 200 to 240 children and teens are diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma every year across the entire nation, according to the American Cancer Society. The concentration of cases in a single zip code has left parents terrified and demanding answers.

Brody Matteson was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma in August 2024 at age 17. After undergoing treatment, he later developed acute myeloid leukemia as a complication and died in March. Following his death, his mother, Megan Matteson, posted in a community Facebook group asking whether other local families had experienced cancer diagnoses, helping reignite concerns among residents who believed the cases warranted further investigation. Three families contacted her right away after Brody was diagnosed — a response she described as "helpful but scary at the same time."

Federal and State Officials Step In

Following media reporting this month, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli announced on July 17 that he is requesting the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the rare cancer cases affecting children in Ladera Ranch. Essayli wrote on X that there has been "an unusual cluster of pediatric cancers in the Ladera Ranch community," and asked that the EPA "conduct an appropriate investigation into whether there are any environmental causes, and whether any federal environmental laws are implicated." His letter was addressed directly to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.

State Assemblymembers Diane Dixon (R-Newport Beach) and Kate Sanchez (R-Mission Viejo) also joined in the call to investigate the cases. Sanchez called the reports "deeply concerning" and said her office is "actively gathering information, engaging with the appropriate state and local agencies, and reviewing what is known." Meanwhile, the California Cancer Registry, UCI Cancer Center, and Orange County Agricultural Commissioner's Office are conducting an updated review of cancer data in response to ongoing community concerns.

Pesticides in the Crosshairs

Parents have been questioning the use of pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals on Ladera Ranch's approximately 4,000-acre property for months, wondering if repeated application of chemical products could be contributing to these illnesses — even though no direct link between the chemicals and cancer has been proven. Dr. Bruce Blumberg from the University of California, Irvine, supports the idea that pesticides could be linked to the cancers, citing data showing a correlation. For parent Jessica Keetch, whose 18-year-old daughter Haven had her right foot amputated after being diagnosed with synovial sarcoma — a rare cancer affecting about 1,000 people a year in the United States — the pattern feels impossible to dismiss as coincidence. "This is not random," she said.

The community responded swiftly, with the Ladera Ranch homeowners' association announcing it would halt its routine use of landscape pesticides just hours after the federal investigation request was made public. Proponents of the ban use "pesticide" as an umbrella term for all herbicides, insecticides, and rodenticides, though the homeowner's association clarified the ban would not apply to activities necessary to address public health and safety concerns, such as rodent control or responses to invasive pests.

The Push for Broader Accountability

Law firm Bond Legal is seeking information from parents whose children lived in or frequently visited Ladera Ranch, attended local schools, churches, parks, camps, or sports facilities, and were diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, osteosarcoma, leukemia, lymphoma, or another rare childhood cancer — and is also asking families to share information about possible exposure to pesticides, herbicides, contaminated soil or water, construction materials, or other environmental hazards. The firm's managing partner Candice Bond stated that "families deserve transparency about what their children may have been exposed to" and that "when rare cancers appear in clusters, every environmental factor — no matter how routine it may seem — must be examined carefully."

Some residents claim the problem is broader than an Ewing sarcoma cluster, with other types of cancer diagnoses surging among adults in and around the community in recent decades — and those concerned with potential environmental exposures are hoping the media attention will lead to much broader change. One civic leader has already called for a pesticide ban that extends beyond Ladera Ranch to all of Orange County and, ultimately, the entire state