CAMERON, Mo. -- "I'm here to investigate and find out what's going on in this community," Erin Brockovich told Cameron residents on Monday.

Community activist Brockovich, made famous by a movie about her starring Julia Roberts, brought her legal team to Cameron. She told an audience of about 200 people that she is determined to find the source of the brain tumors that residents say are prevalent in their community.

She told area residents that she was prompted to start her investigation after receiving several e-mails from people about the brain tumor problems. She said the correspondence came not only from northwest Missouri but from people living in other states who had ties to the area.

"I can't take away the brain tumors that exist. I can't give back people's health, but I can find justice," Brockovich said.

Cameron resident Cyndee Gardner spoke with Brockovich about her daughter, Maycee. Maycee, who is 8 years old, is one of Cameron's youngest victims. She has two brain tumors.

Gardner said she hopes Brockovich can help. "We're done with the EPA; those other people, they can back off, let her do her work and see what they come up with," Gardner said.

Earlier this month, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said a five-month investigation had found no central cause for a rise in brain tumor reports in the area. State epidemiologist Sarah Patrick also said that the number of brain tumor cases in a four-county area around the Cameron is not statistically higher than the numbers throughout the state.

But residents and their advocates believe that a former Rockwool Industries insulation plant, which operated in Cameron from 1974 to 1992, may be a cause of the tumors. State health investigators found high levels of lead and arsenic in the water and soil around the plant but not enough to threaten health.

In the 1990s, Brockovich, a native of Lawrence, Kan., exposed a California utility company that leaked toxic chemicals into the water. She won a $330 million lawsuit for the people of a nearby town whose health had been compromised.

Brockovich said, "I'm just extending a hand and providing information so they can be empowered to protect themselves."

Brockovich added that the most important thing is for the town to work together to find the cause and clean it up, so future families in Cameron will not have to worry about brain tumors.

She also pledged to help families receive the best legal representation possible. Peterson and Associates of Kansas City has hired California toxicologist Dr. James Dahlgren to help in investigations of about 40 tumor cases. Dahlgren worked with Brockovich in the 1996 California case depicted in the movie.