Something in the water. Potential Cancer Cluster in PA.

[Edward]

http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnew ... xml&coll=1

This is very good story on a cancer investigation done by the Harrisburg Patriot.

This is area is near a university and high school. I have it also in my blog where you could reference by at my profile.

[missjv]

HI EDWARD,
THERE IS SOMETHING SOMEWHERE CAUSING THIS CANCER STUFF. JUST ON MY STREET ALONE THERE ARE 11 PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENT TYPES OF CANCER AND WE ALL HAVE LIVED HERE FOR YEARS. IM THE ONLY COLON CANCER BUT SOME HAVE LUNG CANCER AND ARE NON SMOKERS AND THERE IS A HEAD AND NECK CANCER WHO AT FIRST WAS DIAGNOSED A SPIDER BITE (GLAD I DIDN'T GO TO THAT DOCTOR) AND A MULTIPLE MYLOMA, AND 2 MELANOMAS AND BREAST CANCER. IM AFRAID FOR MY DAUGHTER WE NO LONGER EAT PROCESSED FOODS LIKE LUNCH MEAT AND HOT DOGS, WE WEAR OUR SUNSCREEN, I TRY TO BUY ALL ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGTABLES AND STUFF GROWN IN AMERICA, SHE DOES NOT EAT CANDY OR ANY SUGARY DRINKS. I HOPE IM DOING THE RIGHT THING I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO. I ENDED UP WITH COLON CANCER SOMEHOW AND MY DAUGHTER HAS A BETTER SHOT AT GETTING IT IN THE FUTURE THANKS TO HER MOTHER. THERE ARE SO MANY POLLUTANTS IN THE AIR WE ARE ALL BREATHING IT IS SCARY.

MISSJV

[Ivanaplay2]

Hi Edward,

There is another suspected cancer cluster in Muhlenberg Township, just east of Reading, PA. It seems to be centered around the highschool, which apparently was built over a dumping site for several (car) battery manufacturing plants. The crushed battery boxes/casings are thought to be a potential contributing factor. About a dozen young people (18 to 25) have been diagnosed with various types of cancer, and they all attended Muhlenberg High School. The (Berks) County Commissioners are only just starting to make noise about funding an investigation.

[janb]

My husband has his own business in the environmental field, RADON to be specific. Several years ago in PA, a man was coming to work at a nuclear plant. When he entered work, the radioactive alarm sounded. He was coming into work and this should happen coming out of work if you've been exposed to radiation. This gentleman's house was extremely high with RADON. He was a walking radioactive person! RADON is a naturally caused element from decaying uranium and other rock under the ground. When it decays, it lets off a gas - RADON. He has been in hundreds of homes where the members never smoked etc. they have radon and lung cancer. If your water comes from a well, you are bringing the RADON into your home through the pipe. Water should have less than 5000 PCI (picocuries per lieder) to be considered safe to drink. Air should have less than 4PCI to be considered safe. Many people poo-poo the radon theory but how can you deny a natural causing element? My house has 2 water tanks (from the well) that clean the RADON out before it comes through my faucets. My husband recently purchased a Geiger counter. We went down to the tanks yesterday and the device found radioactivity close to the tanks. I believe part of the problem with people contracting cancer in the stomach or lungs is from RADON. Pennsylvania is pro-active with RADON but many states aren't. For more information on RADON, just go a Google search with the word. There's lots of information out there.

[eitter]

Youk know I realize the article foucused on one area. But I personally think we have an epidemic nationwide, which can be really scary and can be preventable.

In my church, and we live all over the valley, there have been 10+ people diagnosed last year alone. In fact I asked our pastor if this hase been the worst year for him and his 30+ years in the minstry and he said yes, he has never had so many cancer cases in one year. We are med size church of about 700. The number I mentioned from last year did not include the many who already had cancer and have died of cancer in prior years.

I have to agree with MissJV, we need to be taking drastic measures to help prevent this disease from ever occuring in the first place. But are they really drastic, I think it is the way we should eat in the first place. It should be a normal way of life for all of us. We just like our Frosted Flakes, Hot Dogs and fast food to much. I saw SuperSize me last weekend, YIKES! That was scary! Just rent it and be surprised!
Personally I try to buy organic as much as possible, yes it is more expensive especially the meat, but tastes better and is better for me. I also be very careful about the water I drink. As MissJV said we have to protect our kids and I say we need to educate our friends and extending family. Having cancer gives us a platform.

I will now step off my soapbox, I think I am preaching to the choir.

God Bless,

[Becca]

That was some excellent reporting by the Patriot... there was a follow-up in yesterday's paper as well. It's really scary to think about. A lot of people here in the Harrisburg area wonder how much our cancers may have to do with TMI. To be honest, I chalked it up to nonsense until I got sick with no family history of CC. Will we ever know the whole truth?

[Edward]

One of the main reasons I posted the story here is for the journalistic value. Within the past few days, we seen the conditions at Walter Reed which just happened to be the accross the street from the general's house.

One thing that has not been mentioned in the Patriot (www.pennlive.com), was any role or has the EPA been contacted or any federal agencies. The reason being is that there is a connection. Much of these federal agencies have been gutted the last six years through the current administration. With the story in Selinsgrove, it seems like the parties involved up until Saturday were doing the minimal amount to get to the bottom of it. The University kept it under wraps for three years. In good faith, it should contact all Alumni. In one case, one football player had such a high pain threshold, he was able to let colon cancer go until a few days before his death.

As in Walter Reed, privatization came in and experience left. IAP was given a 125 million contract for facilities. IAP was headed up by two Halliburton execs.

[missingmom]

WOW... It's unbelieveable... but totally believable at the same time.. Who knows just how many of these " sites" exist in this country... We all know that we are told we are safe... but are we? Why are there so many CC dx'd everyday.... Just a few decades ago CC was thoughtt to be an " old person's " disease... it was rare and NEVER did we even think about it in our 20's, 30's and 40's.... Now look at things. Most everyone here was dx'd well before 50 and the AMA is still saying there is no need for screening till 50. Pardon my bluntness but that is total bullshit and you all here are living proof. We have to do something... we can't put our lives, our futures in the hands of a " higher power" like the EPA.. the government or the AMA... let one of their children be dx'd with CC and see how quickly things change.
Beef in this country is injected with steriods, antibiotics and who knows what else... what about what hey are fed? And we eat it... same with chicken, pork even our fish are swimming in contamination and we are paying a terrible price. We can't allow this, we have to speak up, we can't lay down and take this abuse of our trust.
I lost my mother before she could attend my wedding, hold her grandbaby, she was my best friend and we were robbed....
I have posted another post about my internet radio show... please I am begging anyone and everyone of you who wants to help me spread the word about screening, our environment, the foods we eat.. all of it.. please share your stories, thoughts and outrage with me and my thousands of listeners... we can be heard, we need to be heard.
I am dedicating my show on March 15th to CC... it's my 35th birthday ( I have already had two colonoscopies ) and it is the 3rd anniversary of the day I buried my mom.... please call in... we are on live from 2 to 5 EST and run the replays the other 21 hours till the next show.. we also feed to IPODnetwoks.com so peole can download them and listen... please...
my show is jrshowonline.com... my call in number is toll free 888 2 jr show 888-257-7469... my name is Erica and although I personally have been spared CC... I have lived through it with my mother and I am passionate about spreading the word... please take a minute or two from your day on March 15 and help me help others to not die of embarrassment. Let's talk about it !!!!!
Erica

[sun-sparkled waves]

I wish that all herbacides, including "Weed and Feed", are taken off the market. It all ends up in our water. We all must try to have less of an impact on our earth, any way we can.

[Erika]

Dear Ed and all:

Coincidently I am visiting my folks in the Selinsgrove area this week and boy has it been interesting. I am at my dad's office in downtown Selinsgrove and the 'cancer cluster' is the talk of the town. The PA DEP is around town doing air, soil, and water testing today. As both a scientist and a cancer survivor, I have really been wrestling with this emotionally-charged issue.

I obviously feel very sorry for the grieving mother who is on a mission to find the cause of her son's cancer, but honestly, I think she is searching for an answer she isn't going to find. Exposure to toxins is thought to be a factor in cancer in a general sense, but directly linking environmental contamination to cancer is very difficult at best (save for some infamous cases like Love Canal, NY and Woburn, MA). I think most of us can appreciate the complexities of cancer- the when, where, what, and why of each case are multifaceted. Scientific studies are confounded by the difficulty of controlling for variability among individuals in terms of many factors that could influence cancer (incidently this also goes for diet-cancer linkages). Furthermore, defining cancer clusters is also troublesome. Where do we draw boundaries? So-called clusters can exist by chance alone. In the case of the college graduates featured in the Patriot article, we know nothing about the individual risk of each. Did they have family histories of cancer or other risk factors? And what is the mode of exposure? While I was a graduate student at UGA, 4 people (inluding myself) were diagnosed with cancer within a couple years. Cancer cluster? An environmental mechanism?

Sadly, the former mill site in Selinsgrove is not unusual. There are thousands of such sites in the U.S. Clean-up and remediation of them is a whole 'nother can of worms and is to me a large part of this story. Should DEP have granted a permit for the site to be sold and an inn built on it without complete "clean-up"? Happens more than we'd like to think.

I think the parents of the Susquehanna students are frustrated- as are many cancer survivors who want to know WHY they got cancer. Who wouldn't be? I'm glad the town, state, and university are doing this probe, but I hope the grieving parents can find peace regardless of the outcome.

Interestingly, I was contacted by Ford Turner, the author of the Patriot article, last fall. Someone had given him my name since I grew up in the greater Selinsgrove area and had cancer in my 20s. He asked what I thought about the situation and I basically told him what I have written above. At the time I was not aware of the details, but certainly my cancer was not caused by benzene leaking into Weiser Run.

Not long after my younger sisters had polyps removed they asked me what they could do to prevent colon cancer- a certain diet, magic pill? I told them there is only one proven way to prevent it- get screened regularly and get those polyps plucked out before they can become cancer. That is our best defense against colon cancer. Could environmental exposure be related to incidence of colon cancer? Certainly. Should we still demand high environmental safety standards? Absolutely. Would we all feel better if we had someone or something to blame for our cancer? Questionable.

One thing is for sure, this issue is not dead and will probably continue to crop up all over the country.

Just my $.02,
Erika

[Edward]

I did get a chance to see the news today. Trucks were at the site today from DEP. With the probe going on at PennDOT due to the Valentines Day snow and today's snow, this may be a small miracle.

Due to the university population being mobile, it will be hard to establish any type of baseline or denominator. Some other things to consider that weren't mentioned:

1.) The University's Athletic facilities were renovated during this time.

2.) There were two floods in the area.

Like Erika said, the deaths could be related. Scientifically, it will be hard to show proof or link everything together. Right now the borough of Selinsgrove and the state are doing everything in their power.