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A cancer cluster was identified in the Indian River area last year, prompting a new study that identified eight clusters statewide.
Millsboro remains the only cancer cluster site in Sussex County. The area has a higher than average occurrence of lung cancer. The state report says it cannot identify the causes of the state’s cancer clusters, but many in the area say industrial pollution has something to do with it.
The report is an important first step, say lawmakers and environmentalists, but the state has to do more to determine the causes of the clusters and limit industrial pollutants.
“The report is long overdue,” said former Environmental Protection Agency scientist John Austin. “For the first time, the health department has looked at the incidence of cancer at a sub-county level.”
The report confirms what a lot of people have been suspecting for a while, said Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach.
“The study does identify cluster areas, but doesn’t say what is causing the cancers in the cluster areas,” said Sen. George Bunting, D-Bethany Beach.
The latest report on statewide cancer used data collected from 2000 to 2004 on breast, colorectal, lung and prostate cancer. The state report does not attempt to discuss specific causes for cancers in clusters across the state. It says a variety of factors contribute to cancer, such as age, heredity, tobacco use, nutrition and exposure to carcinogenic agents. However, the report says environmental exposure could be a contributing factor. Migration and better access to healthcare, including screening, are other possible causes of the clusters listed in the report.
“This report has been a long time coming. I think there is much more to be done in regard to determining the cause of those clusters,” said Sen. Gary Simpson, R-Milford.
“It is not a coincidence that the cancer clusters are all located around heavy industrial polluters,” said Schwartzkopf.
Austin is a member of Citizens for Clean Power (CCP). That group wants the state to further localize its look at cancer occurrence to the community level and to examine historic occurrence of cancer by ZIP code. CCP maintains that industrial pollution in the Indian River area is the cause of that cancer cluster.
Rep. Joe Booth, R-Georgetown, said it is a study still in progress and once the clusters are identified the state can begin to look at causes.
“We must do a better job of cleaning up polluted areas,” said Rep. Gerald Hocker, R-Ocean View. “I am very concerned about the quality of our shallow wells, with the water table as high as it is in Sussex County.”
“When will the public health department hold industry accountable for the healthcare costs of its pollution? We cannot accept the continued avoidance of holding industrial polluters to account. They should pay their fair share of healthcare costs incurred by their practices,” said CCP in a press release.
The most powerful carcinogen emitted by the Indian River power plant is arsenic, said Austin, adding that the plant released 1,005 pounds of arsenic to the air and 31,000 pounds to the land in 2006. Other carcinogens in the plant’s emissions include chromium and cadmium.
“Where were these clusters first noticeable in the state’s data?” Austin asked. He said the state has cancer data going back to 1980.
The head of air quality monitoring in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has previously said migration of people into the state can also affect cancer rates.
Simpson said the state could look at tapping into federal funding to help nail down the cause of the disease clusters. “It is very important that we pin this down. If we make a real effort, we can find funding sources without impacting anything else we’re currently doing,” said Simpson.
The state must find some funding options to ferret out the cause of the cancer clusters, Hocker agreed. He said a demographic study is needed, one which examines the age of cancer victims as well as how long they have lived in the area.
“The state has a number of clusters of different cancers. What is the state going to do next?” asked Austin.
He said cancer is but one medical endpoint and that examining clusters of other health conditions such as heart disease, stroke and infant mortality is also important. Those are short-term indicators of environmental pollution, he said, while cancer is a long-term indicator.
Because cancers from exposure develop slowly, rates can further be affected by people moving in and out of the sub-county levels the state used to measure rates, causing additional complication in identifying a specific source.
“Therefore, a map, alone, cannot prove that something in the environment is responsible for elevated cancer rates,” says the report.
“What I would like to see is a study of age, heredity, smoking, if people moved here, where from and how long have they lived here,” said Bunting. “Before we go pointing fingers at power plants and agriculture, let’s identify scientifically, with facts, what causes cancer,” he said.
Austin says he has long been critical of the state for not taking a holistic look at health problems. CCP advocates the state initiate proactive, protective measures to cut hazardous industrial pollutants.
Health officials say they can more easily trace environmental causes of cancer if the cluster is made up of many cases of one type of cancer, the cluster is of a rare type of the disease or people in the cluster are of an age group not typically affected by that cancer.
In addition to more epidemiological study by the state, CCP wants to see the state set limits on hazardous air emissions as it renews permits for the Indian River power plant.
Plant owner NRG Energy is under a consent decree with DNREC to curb emissions of mercury and greenhouse gases. By that order, the plant’s two oldest boiler units will be shut down by 2011.
A public hearing on mercury control technology installation on the plant will be held at 6 p.m., Wednesday, May 7, at the Millsboro Fire Company.
Contact Leah Hoenen at leah@capegazette.com
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