. >> reporter: how do we know if maria salcedo's misery is part of a pattern? arming community of kettleman city, california. her misery has company. >> reporter: when you're driving through the san joaquin valley here in california, it's beautiful. it's green, it's lush and there's rolling hills. but just a few feet off this busy highway something else that grabs your attention. the largest toxic waste dump west of the mississippi. last year 400,000 tons of hazardous waste including lead and cancer-linked pcbs found in plastics was dumped here. less than four miles away is kettleman city, a small, poor community with no grocery store, no high school and few sidewalks. the town of 1500 is also plagued with poor air quality, unsafe drinking water and exposure to pesticides. it also has a startling number of birth defects that some residents believe could be linked to this toxic dump. in the past three years ten babies have been born with birth defects. three of those children have died. small town, troubling numbers. troubling for mothers like maria salcedo and d