ATSDR offers intriguing preliminary details on polycythemia vera study

There's a story in today's Allentown Morning Call that offers some preliminary details about the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry's investigation into the unusually high rate of polycythemia vera in the Hometown area, the full findings of which are set to be officially released on Saturday, Sept. 29 at Genetti Inn near Hazleton. It opens:

The rate of a rare blood disease in Schuylkill, Carbon and Luzerne counties is higher than normal. But a toxicologist who participated in a months-long study of the illness cautions that the investigation involved only a small group of people, a "significant number" of whom lacked the gene mutation present in almost everyone who has the illness.

The mutation referred to is the JAK2 mutation (misidentified in the article as "Jack 2"). The study participants were subjected to genetic testing to determine whether or not they had that mutation. The article quotes ATSDR researcher Vince Seaman:

"We used that to verify whether people really had p. vera or not," he said. "There are very few cases that you would truly have the disease and you wouldn't have that mutation. We were able to actually nail down the people who truly had it as opposed to the people who truly didn't have it."

That raises some questions.

First, if there are in fact a "very few cases" where people "truly" have polycythemia vera but don't have the mutation, then are any of these local cases among that rare group? The article does not say.

Also, if patients are being diagnosed with polycythemia vera but don't have the characteristic genetic mutation, then what do they have? Polycythemia vera has a pretty unusual complex of symptoms. If they're not being caused by the JAK2 mutation, could they be related to another genetic mutation that has not yet been identified -- or perhaps to some sort of environmental poisoning whose symptoms mimic polycythemia?

After all, a statistical analysis I conducted with the help of a cancer researcher found an association between high rates of polycythemia vera reported to the state cancer registry in populous Pennsylvania counties and the proximity of waste-coal-burning power plants.

Stay tuned...

'Pointing the ATSDR in the Right Direction'

The following article originally appeared on the Web site of Dante Picciano, a Tamaqua, Pa.-based attorney, scientist and environmental health advocate:

August 24, 2007

Polycythemia vera is a rare bone marrow cancer occurring with a frequency of between one in 100,000 and one in 200,000 people per year. In 2004, the Carbon County Groundwater Guardians reported an unusual cluster of polycythemia vera cases in people living on Ben Titus Road, along the Still Creek Reservoir in Rush Township. Since then, there have been three studies in this area of cancer rates and polycythemia vera by government agencies. The Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH) conducted two of the studies and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), part of the federal Department of Health and Human Resources, conducted the other study.

The two cancer studies by the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH) left the affected residents with little information of significance about the rates of cancer in the area or the cause of the polycythemia vera.

A recent newspaper article reported that the ATSDR is completing its study on the incidence of polycythemia vera in Carbon, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties and that the agency has found an almost quadrupling of the incidence of this cancer in the area. The ATSDR is expected to present its results to the public at the end of September.

Assuming that the recent newspaper article is correct, and we see no reason why it should not be correct, we would expect the ATSDR to announce that there is a dramatic increase in the incidence of polycythemia vera in this area. The next step will be to discover what is causing this unusually high incidence of this rare cancer in our communities. Before the ATSDR attempts to address the causes or causes, we would like to help point the agency in the right direction.

First, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory, the top polluters in Schuylkill County in 2005 (the most recent year for which data are available) were five coal-burning plants. Together, these five plants released 2,219,827 pounds of pollutants into the environment or 85.7 percent of all reported releases in Schuylkill County for 2005. The releases included arsenic, barium, chromium, dioxins, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, lead, mercury and other chemicals that may cause cancer or linger in human tissues or the environment.

Second, the State of Delaware has confirmed a link between a coal-burning plant and an increase in cancer among exposed residents. The Delaware News Journal reported that years after citizen activists first asked the state to investigate the problem, the Delaware Division of Public Health has finally confirmed what the activists suspected: There’s a cluster of cancer cases near a coal-burning plant, the state’s worst polluter. The study confirmed that the rate of cancer cases in the area around the plant is 17 percent higher than the national average (see Delaware confirms coal plant – cancer cluster link).

Third, a reporter, Sue Sturgis, from North Carolina has reviewed the PA DOH’s data of reported cases of polycythemia vera by county for the years 2001 through 2003 and suggests a possible association between polycythemia vera and power plants that burn waste coal (see Cancer researcher confirms possible link between polycythemia, waste-fuel-burning power plants).

In a mystery novel, Sherlock Holmes once said, “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” We are hoping that this letter will prevent obvious facts from being deceptive for the ATSDR.

Inky comes to Hometown, misses story

Philadelphia Inquirer photographer Tom Gralish stopped by Hometown recently as part of his regular feature for the paper, "Scene on the Road." An Air Force brat who moved often while growing up, Gralish was looking for the kind of place that said "home," hoping to get at least a commemorative T-shirt out of the visit.

But he didn't find what he was looking for, as was clear from his headline: "Hometown visit proves unfulfilling."

Too bad Gralish didn't do any background research before he came. Residents might not have been able to show him the sort of ideal home he dreams of, but there's a heck of a story to be told about a rural community struggling with the environmental pollution that's killing them.

Cancer cluster confirmed near coal-burning power plant in Delaware

(The following article is from Dr. Dante Picciano's Web site. To read more about my analysis suggesting a link between waste-coal-burning power plants and polycythemia vera in Pennsylvania, click here.)

DELAWARE CONFIRMS COAL PLANT – CANCER CLUSTER LINK

August 10, 2007

The State of Delaware has confirmed a link between a coal-burning plant and an increase in cancer among exposed residents. The Delaware News Journal reports that years after citizen activists first asked the state to investigate the problem, the Delaware Division of Public Health has finally confirmed what the activists suspected: There's a cluster of cancer cases near a coal-burning plant, the state's worst polluter.

The coal-burning plant is NRG Energy Inc.'s Indian River complex and is located in Millsboro, Delaware. The study was conducted by examining the cancer cases in a six ZIP code area around the plant. The areas examined were Dagsboro, Frankford, Georgetown, Millsboro, Ocean View and Selbyville.

The Division of Public Health study showed an incidence of 553.9 cancer cases per 100,000 residents of this area between 2000 and 2004 compared with the Delaware state rate of 501.3 and the U.S. rate of 473.6 cancer cases per 100,000 residents. Thus, this study confirmed that the rate of cancer cases in this area is 17 percent higher than the national average.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory, coal-burning power plants in Delaware release large amounts of toxic hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, ammonia and hydrogen fluoride, along with lead, nickel and mercury compounds and other chemicals that may cause cancer or linger in human tissues or the environment.

No government study would be complete without a qualification blaming the exposed people. The Delaware study is no exception. In the study, the highest incidence of cancer among the exposed residents was lung cancer, which accounted for 19.5 percent of the cases. The Division of Public Health said that it is not sure whether the higher incidence of lung cancer could have been caused by tobacco or by people having moved into the area from a different environment.

The report also said that new state rules intended to reduce emissions "are a major step forward in providing a clean environment." With this, we agree.

Does any of this sound familiar? As you may know, citizen activists first uncovered an unusual cluster of polycythemia vera cases along the Ben Titus Road in the Still Creek area of Rush Township. Polycythemia vera is a rare bone marrow cancer.

Two cancer studies by the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH) left the affected residents with little information of significance about the rates of cancer in the area or the cause of the polycythemia vera. The PA DOH attributed any increases in the incidences of cancer that did appear in its two studies to life style, specifically smoking and diet. The PA DOH was partially correct. The increases can be attributed to life style but in these studies the life style relates to living in an area contaminated with imported hazardous wastes and to being exposed to a toxic chemical soup.

A reporter, Sue Sturgis, from North Carolina has reviewed the PA DOH's data of reported cases of polycythemia vera by county for the years 2001 through 2003 and suggests a possible association between polycythemia vera and power plants that burn waste coal www.hometownhazards.com. It is amazing to us that a reporter from North Carolina has done more investigating into the basis of our problems than the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Finally, a recent article reported that the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), part of the federal Department of Health and Human Resources, is completing a study on the incidence of polycythemia vera in Carbon, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties. The article reported that the ATSDR has found an almost quadrupling of the incidence of polycythemia vera in the area.

The primary purpose of all government is to protect the health, safety and welfare of its citizens. When will our government begin to protect our health, safety and welfare from the toxic emissions of coal-fired power plants? We are not asking that these plants be shut down but we are asking that our legislators stop giving these toxin-emitting plants licenses to pollute. We are demanding that they be operated in a manner that reduces the risks of toxic emissions for the people living near these plants.

*We thank Jill McElheney of the Ministry to Improve Child and Adolescent Health (MICAH's Mission: Micahmission@aol.com), P.O. Box 275, Winterville, GA 30683, for calling our attention to the study by the Delaware Division of Public Health.

Setting the record straight on Three Mile Island

(The following letter is by Three Mile Island Alert Chairman Eric Epstein. It's of obvious interest to residents of the Hometown area, who live 80 miles downwind from the site of America's worst nuclear disaster, and who are also suffering from an unusually high rate of polycythemia vera, a rare blood cancer that's been linked to low-level radiation exposure. For a PDF version of the letter complete with footnotes, click on the title below.)

Three Mile Island Had Lasting Consequences
August 7, 2007
Fortune Magazine

Dear Editor:

I was deeply disappointed in David Whitford's casual dismissal of the impact the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident had on our community, i.e. Rethinking Three Mile Island. Without supplying any hard data, Mr. Whitford regurgitates the mantra of the nuclear renaissance: "But guess what? No one died at Three Mile Island. No one even got hurt. Hard evidence simply does not exist that any living thing, animal or vegetable, was significantly harmed by the small amount of radiation released during the accident. Even in the most extreme cases, the exposure was less than anyone living in the area receives from natural sources."

Perhaps Mr. Whitford was referring to the University of Pittsburgh (1) health study which was essentially a recitation of discredited protocol and disputed data. Rereleased on October 31, 2002, the study actually acknowledged an increase in lymphatic and blood cancers among men.

Also, as in previous health studies relating to TMI, this survey relied on government and nuclear industry sponsored health studies which were completed in the early 1980s. These studies were based on inaccurate dose projections, did not factor data regarding the severity and conditions of the core meltdown (2), and ignored prevailing weather conditions and wind patterns in March-April, 1979.

None of these studies evaluate the health impact to members of our community who defueled Three Mile Island. In fact, TMIs owners choose not to maintain a health or cancer registry despite the fact, that from 1979-1989, 5,000 cleanup workers received 'measurable doses' of radiation exposure. (3)

Moreover, the University of Pittsburgh's Study relied heavily on the much maligned Pennsylvania Department of Health's 22-year-old survey released in September, 1985. That Study's protocol was ridiculed and criticized by epidemiologists at Harvard and Penn State for diluting increases in cancer by expanding the population base to include people living outside of the ten-mile study-zone. (October 1985.) (4)

A great deal of radiation was released by the core melt at TMI. The President's Commission estimated about 15 million curies of radiation were released into the atmosphere. A review of dose assessments, conducted by Dr. Jan Beyea, (National Audubon Society; 1984) (5) estimated that from 276 to 63,000 person-rem were delivered to the general population within 50 miles of TMI. More recently, David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists, estimated between 40 million curies and 100 million curies escaped during the accident.

The plant's owners, codefendants and insurers have paid over $84 million in health, economic and evacuation claims, including a $1.1 million settlement for a baby born with Down's Syndrome. (6) In June 2000, the United States Supreme Court remanded 1,990 unsettled health suits from the TMI-accident back to Federal Court. (GPU v. Abrams; Dolan v. GPU.) (7)

In August 1996, a study by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill authored by Dr. Steven Wing reported that "...there were reports of erythema, hair loss, vomiting, and pet death near TMI at the time of the accident...Accident doses were positively associated with cancer incidence. Associations were largest for leukemia, intermediate for lung cancer, and smallest for all cancers combined...Inhaled radionuclide contamination could differentially impact lung cancers, which show a clear dose-related increase." (8)

Today, TMI-2 remains a high-level radioactive waste in the middle of the Susquehanna River. There was no decommissioning fund established for TMI at the time of the accident. (9) The site of the nations worst commercial nuclear accident has not been decontaminated nor decommissioned. There has not been a human entry in the basement of the reactor building since March, 1979.

TMI is an accident without an ending. Next time you drive through our community, stop for a while, and read the fine print on the nuclear label.

Sincerely,
Eric Joseph Epstein
4100 Hillsdale Road
Harrisburg, PA 17112
(717)-541-1101 Phone
ericepstein@comcast.net

Mr. Epstein is the Chairman of Three Mile Island Alert , Inc., tmia.com, a safe-energy organization based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and founded in 1977. TMIA monitors Peach Bottom, Susquehanna, and Three Mile Island nuclear generating stations.

A plan of action for Hometown...

...and all the other communities suffering from toxic dumping, by local environmental watchdog Dante Picciano: Vote out the incumbents and bring in the lawyers.