The Acreage Cancer Study

Hi All,

This is just a quick post to let you know that the State has agreed to conduct more tests. The article from the Palm Beach Post is below.

Also, we were looking through our Video archives to remind ourselves of what Dr. Alonso originally said about a cancer cluster. Click Here  if you want to see this video again - or for the first time. To save you some time, Dr. Alonso said determing if a cancer cluster exists is "more difficult than rocket science." For another interview, Click Here and Here. We were told it was rare, it would be difficult to prove - but now they are singing a different tune. Now, Dr. Alonso is saying it is common - than cancer is on the rise. Come again? If you want to see Dr. Alonso's most recent take on the cancer cluster, Click Here.

On a similar note, Dr. Watkins also appears to be singing a new tune. In the article below (from the Towne-Crier) Dr. Watkins is quoted saying, "We suspected  that pediatric brain and central-nervous-system cancers among children were higher than would normally be seen in an area like The Acreage." Well, this is good to hear now, but this isn't the picture she painted a few months ago. In a Palm Beach Post article, Dr. Watkins made this response when asked about concerns parents in the Acreage had about a potential cancer cluster: "It's just a common psychological phenomenon," Watkins said. "They are thinking what caused the cancer, and do I knowanybody else it's happened to." Isn't that nice? To view the full article, Click Here.

They weren't very supportive in the past, but now that the science has spoken, it's nice to see some change of heart.

Have a great weekend.

State officials agree to test soil, water at homes of Acreage kids with cancer

By Mitra MalekPalm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 9:33 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5, 2010

THE ACREAGE — State officials will test the water and soil at brain-cancer-stricken children's homes in The Acreage, Florida Department of Health's chief of staff said Friday — an appeal those children's families have been making for months.

The decision comes a day after Gov. Charlie Crist pledged to seek federal help to investigate whether something in particular has caused higher-than-normal rates of pediatric brain tumors and cancer, particularly for girls, in The Acreage.

It also comes one day after — and appears to be a departure from — Florida Surgeon General Ana Viamonte Ros' statement that state health officials had exhausted their research options in The Acreage.

"If they want us to test it we will," Health Department Chief of Staff Robert Siedlecki Jr. said Friday.

No doubt the state has long known they want samples, several affected families said.

"Wonderful," said Tracy Newfield, whose daughter had a brain tumor removed when she was 11. "They've had our medical records and had our approval to test whatever they want."

Since June, the state Health Department has been investigating whether a childhood brain cancer cluster is in the semi-rural community of 32,000 to 39,000 residents. Figures released Monday confirmed the cluster exists.

In December and January, health officials interviewed 12 of 13 families of children and teenagers with brain tumors or cancer, looking for similarities. They didn't run any biological or environmental tests.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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‘Cancer Cluster’ Confirmed, Cause Unknown

Ron Bukley 05.FEB.10

An elevated rate of cancer in children in The Acreage, especially infemales under 19, was confirmed Monday, Feb. 1 by the Palm Beach CountyHealth Department, but no cause was determined.

“We suspected  that pediatric brain and central-nervous-system cancers among children were higher than would normally be seen in an area like The Acreage,  ”Senior Environmental Epidemiologist Sharon Watkins said. “But to beaccurate, we needed to be more confident with how much the populationincreased from 2000 to 2007.”

The cancer rate was shown to beelevated after applying more recent population estimates to a cancerstudy conducted in August, Health Department spokesman Tim O’Connorsaid.

The original population calculation used 2000 censusfigures that showed a population in The Acreage of about 29,000residents. Researchers said that figure was probably well below theactual population.

The new study utilized three additionalindependent population sources to calculate growth in the area through2007 that showed population estimates of 31,908, 38,851 and 39,809. Ineach case, the population was broken into age groups and by gender, andthe findings continued to show elevated levels of brain andcentral-nervous-system cancers, especially among young females.

“Oneof our primary concerns was the elevated level of female pediatricbrain cancers, and that’s where we broke it down to a more finitenumber of definitions and to the time frame between 2005 and 2007, andit showed the three cases in that particular time period,” O’Connortold the Town-Crier on Tuesday. “That’s probably the most significant.The overall pediatrics are also high, but the one that really becomesstatistically significant is narrowing it down to that smaller timeframe where you would probably see zero [cases], and in this case thereare three and all being female.”

To view the full article, Click Here.