Specter calls meeting on polycythemia vera

From the website of U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter:

Specter to Hold Meeting on Cancer Cluster

Patients, Doctors, Health Officials to Participate in Roundtable

Hazelton, PA
Monday, October 6, 2008 - 04:00 PM

EVENT: Senator Arlen Specter will meet with community members and officials who have directly dealt with the blood cancer cluster in Carbon, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties.

DATE/TIME: 4pm on Monday, October 6th

LOCATION: Best Western - Genetti Inn & Suites
1441 N. Church St.
Hazleton, PA 18202

Senator Arlen Specter will meet with community members and officials who have been directly involved with the higher than usual incidence of polycythemia vera in the Carbon, Luzerne and Schuylkill tri-county area. Participants will include residents who have advocated for attention and study of the region's health problems. Several community members who are suffering from the rare blood cancer, and the doctors that treat them, are expected to attend. Officials from Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry will also be on hand.

In June, Senator Specter, ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, announced the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved $262,000 for Drexel University School of Public Heath in Philadelphia to investigate the polycythemia vera cluster in Northeast Pennsylvania. Senator Specter, after consultation with the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Drexel University, requested the federal funding.

Senator Specter has closely monitored the occurrence of polycethemia vera in the community. After learning of the concerns, Senator Specter requested that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assist the Pennsylvania Department of Health in studying the community’s health problems. On October 6, 2006 Senator Specter visited the McAdoo Superfund site to formally announce that the CDC and Pennsylvania Department of Health would partner to perform a statistical analysis of the region’s health data. Upon the study's conclusion, Senator Specter has written several letters to the agencies urging them to hold public briefings for the community, as well as to continue to monitor the cases of polycythemia vera.