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Sometimes the effects of toxic substances may appear immediately or soon after exposure or they can take years to appear. Determining the causes of cancer in humans is difficult. There can be a long period (10 to 40 years) between the start of exposure to a carcinogen and the appearance of a cancer.

After exposure, testing for health effects can be very useful. Medical screening of residents and water bodies to detect the risk of harmful exposure must be considered. A community wide medical surveillance program may discover small changes in health before severe damage occurs.

Organised community wide health screening in the Stockton area (and perhaps beyond) emphasising the skin and respiratory tract as well as urine tests would be a good place to start.

If Orica has nothing to hide it would foot this and future monitoring bills as an act of a responsible corporate citizen and would receive immeasurable goodwill in the process. If Orica has acted poorly but not illegally, then state regulations that the O'Farrell government inherited from Premier Kristina Keneally need very close inspection and perhaps redrafting

Finally, are there parallels between Orica and the hexavalent chromium lawsuit made famous by Erin Brockovich?

Yes, there are some. In that lawsuit it was alleged that Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) over the years had contaminated groundwater with hexavalent chromium in the California town of Hinkley, leading to a high number of cancer cases.

PG&E operated a compressor station for natural gas pipelines at Hinkley, and hexavalent chromium was used in cooling towers at the site to prevent corrosion. Wastewater from the cooling towers, containing hexavalent chromium, was discharged into unlined ponds and seeped into the groundwater and thus contaminated the town's drinking water.

Although there was some question in Hinkley as to whether the number of cancer cases was higher than expected in other counties in the state of California, and how much of a danger the hexavalent chromium actually posed, the case was settled in 1996 for $333 million -the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit in U.S. history. Ten years later, in 2006 PG&E paid another $315 million to settle additional hexavalent chromium-related claims.

At Orica's Kooragang Island, just like at the PG&E plant in Hinkley, natural gas plays a key role. At Kooragang's ammonia operations, hydrogen is produced from the methane in natural gas. The hydrogen is then combined with nitrogen to produce ammonia. (Orica no doubt uses hexavalent chromium, like other plants use it worldwide, for its excellent anti corrosive properties).

Six months ago in Brisbane, Erin Brokovich, the woman who fought and won the lawsuits against Pacific Gas & Electric was quoted as saying she looks forward to obtaining Australian citizenship after being impressed by our environmental credentials.

Now would be a good a time as any for her to mosey on down to Stockton, NSW and drop off her passport application personally.