Cancer cluster: Village waits, worries

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-met-cancer-cluster-20101118,0,54034.story

A village waits … and worries

With no answer from a court, McCullom Lake residents wonder if their fears of a cancer cluster are founded

By Duaa Eldeib, Tribune reporter

9:10 p.m. CST, November 18, 2010

Even if it meant more bad news, they wanted to know.

More than 100 residents poured in to the McCullom Lake Village Hall earlier this week after a crushing development in a court case that many had hoped would resolve once and for all whether a nearby chemical plant had polluted the water and air, causing dozens of their friends and neighbors to develop brain tumors.

In all, 32 separate claims were filed against the chemical company. But recently, a judge in a Philadelphia courtroom abruptly halted the first of the cases to go to trial and sent the jury home, reserving harsh words for the expert witness whose report had tried to show the cancers were somehow linked.

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1. In related news:

New data confirms Acreage cancer cluster; health officials puzzled on cause of children's ailments



By MITRA MALEK
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 11:07 p.m. Monday, Sept. 13, 2010
Posted: 3:27 p.m. Monday, Febt. 1, 2010
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THE ACREAGE — The Acreage has a cluster of childhood cancer cases, the head of Palm Beach County's Health Department said Monday, confirming some of the worst fears of parents who called for a state investigation last year.

Eight months of uncertainty ended Monday when state health officials confirmed that rates of brain tumors and brain cancer among children in the semirural community are higher than normal, especially among girls.

But based on early results of interviews with the families, it's unlikely that health officials will be able to pinpoint what has caused the spike, said Dr. Alina Alonso, director of the county's Health Department, a division of the state health department.

"We really don't have one thing," Alonso said during a monthly conference call updating legislators on the investigation, which started in June. "From what we're seeing now, there is nothing that is going to say, 'Aha this is the cause of the cancer.'"

ON EDIT TO ADD THIS COMPRHENSIVE BLOG: http://www.theacreagecancerstudy.com/apps/blog/?view_type=0