Report about contracts signed between 10 US universities and global oil companies

by Margot Roosevelt
Los Angeles Times

Have hundreds of millions of dollars in grants from major oil companies compromised the ethics of energy research at such institutions as UC Berkeley, UC Davis and Stanford?

That’s what Jennifer Washburn, a longtime critic of academic conflicts of interest, contends in “Big Oil Goes to College,” a new report that delves into the details of contracts signed between 10 major U.S. universities and global oil companies.

According to the 212-page study, released by the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based think tank, such companies as BP, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips have funded more than $800 million in potentially compromised research with few protections for academic independence.

For example, since 2002, Stanford has received $225 million from a consortium led by ExxonMobil to study technology to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The company operates refineries, oil drilling facilities, tankers and gas stations, making it a major emitter of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases globally.

As part of the Stanford contract, the industry controls all four voting seats on the research alliance’s governing body, and peer review of faculty research proposals is done “at the discretion of industry sponsors,” the report says.

However, the report notes, ExxonMobil and other major oil companies are currently investing little of their considerable profits in clean-energy research and development within their companies, suggesting that grants to Stanford and and other prestigious universities may be largely a public relations effort designed to “green” company images.
Stanford strongly disputed the characterization of the research at its Global Climate and Energy Project as compromised or controlled by corporate interests.

Washburn is the author of the book “University Inc.: The Corporate Corruption of Higher Education.” In a 2007 op-ed piece for the The Times, “Big Oil Buys Berkeley,” she examined BP’s $500-million deal with UC Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to fund the Energy Biosciences Institute, devoted to biofuels research. “For a mere $50 million a year, an oil company worth $250 billion would buy a chunk of America’s premier public research institutions, all but turning them into its own profit-making subsidiary,” she wrote.

After the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP has come under increasing public scrutiny for limiting the academic freedom of scientists it is funding to study the environmental consequences of the spill.

Read Tribune Washington reporter Neela Banerjee’s account of the Center for American Progress report on oil company contracts with universities.

– Margot Roosevelt
Greenspace Environmental News from California and Beyond
read full article online at the LA Times

RELATED:

Planned distribution of BP funds worries some scientists

Why no campus protest over Berkeley-BP connection?

Big Oil Buys Berkeley

Big Oil Goes to College 200 pages pdf. Center for American Progress.

Study shows women who live in areas with high levels of benzene are most affected

By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 27, 2010

Women who live in Texas neighborhoods with higher levels of benzene, a pollutant from refineries and tailpipes, are more likely to have babies with a serious neurological defect, according to a new study.

Scientists have long known that the highly toxic chemical can cause cancer and damage the immune system.

But the new study links benzene to a birth defect for the first time and adds to the growing body of evidence showing that air pollution can harm a fetus, the authors said.

A team of researchers from the University of Texas School of Public Health and Texas Department of State Health Services conducted the study, which appeared in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

The study suggested that pregnant women exposed to the highest concentrations of benzene had two times greater risk for their children to be born with spina bifida — a condition in which a piece of the spinal cord protrudes from the spinal column.

People with spina bifida may have paralysis of all or part of the lower body. They also may have water on the brain, learning disabilities and depression.

Benzene can pass from mother to fetus through the placenta, possibly causing damage to DNA material. The defects occur during the first month of pregnancy.

“Spina bifida is a relatively rare birth defect, and though our study may show greater risk if one lives in an area with high levels of benzene, the absolute risk is still very small,” said Philip Lupo Jr., one of the study’s authors and an epidemiologist at the UT School of Public Health.

Other pollutants

At the same time, the study’s authors did not find statistically significant ties between neural tube defects such as spina bifida and other air pollutants – toulene, ethylbenzene and xylene.

The researchers studied data on live births, stillbirths and aborted fetuses with neural tube defects in Texas from 1999 to 2004 and U.S. Census tract-level emissions estimates.

They found that the risk of spine bifida more than doubled for those living in areas with estimated benzene concentrations greater than 3 micrograms per cubic meter of air. Federal data shows Harris, Bexar, Jefferson and Travis counties had median concentrations of benzene between 1.38 micrograms and 4.93 micrograms in 1999.

Texas leads the nation in benzene releases, accounting for more than one-third of emissions among the states. But Texas’ benzene emissions have dropped 37 percent over the past five years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s latest data shows.

Elena Craft, an Austin-based health scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund, who was not involved in the study, said the greater risk for spina bifida is significant.

In Texas, she noted, it’s cause for concern, because state regulators don’t consider chronic benzene concentrations less than 4.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air to be hazardous enough to affect health. Michael Honeycutt, chief toxicologist for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said the agency would take a closer look at the study.

“This link to spina bifida at lower concentrations of benzene is interesting,” he said.

Multivitamin intake
Honeycutt said he wanted more information about the women’s use multivitamin pills containing folic acid. A recent study found that those who lived within a mile of an industrial facility or waste site are less likely to take the multivitamins, he said.

The authors acknowledge that lack of information on the maternal use of folic acid is one of the study’s potential limitations.

But they noted that a recent study found little evidence linking neural tube defects and folic acid intake since a federal order to add the B vitamin to enriched grain products in 1998.

Lupo said the researchers intend to take a closer look at the mothers’ lives, such as daily exposure to benzene and diet, in future studies.

“We see this study as a first step,” he said. “It is not the end of the story.”
matthew.tresaugue@chron.com

read online

By Drew Brooks and Mike Hixenbaugh
Staff writers

Fort Bragg officials say test results have ruled out the possibility that conditions inside homes on the installation contributed to the inexplicable deaths of 10 infants since 2007.

But a separate and ongoing probe into military housing by the Army Criminal Investigation Command and the Consumer Product Safety Commission has yet to eliminate any environmental factors in the deaths.

Despite the ongoing probe, officials with Fort Bragg and Picerne Military Housing declared Tuesday that the houses where infants died are safe.

Fort Bragg’s Directorate of Public Works ordered environmental tests at each of the 10 homes associated with the deaths, and those results were announced Tuesday.

“Across the board, none of them tested positive for anything that would contribute (to the deaths),” said Col. Stephen Sicinski, garrison commander at Fort Bragg.

The announcement came about a week after Fort Bragg officials disclosed the test results to current residents at the homes. Some of the parents whose babies died said they also were notified.

Jamie Hernan, a lawyer who represents the parents of four of the dead babies, said he and his clients are not satisfied with Fort Bragg’s findings.

“I’m not surprised the military has claimed there is no link between these deaths, but note that the Criminal Investigation Command maintains an open and ongoing investigation, as do other federal agencies,” Hernan said. “So clearly, the issue is not resolved, and the testing conducted by the military – in some cases years after the fact – certainly was not comprehensive enough to declare that their housing is safe.”

Drywall concerns
More thorough tests by CID and the Consumer Product Safety Commission are pending.

Investigators with the agencies have been testing air quality, building materials and other environmental factors at each of the homes where infants died.

It’s unclear when those tests will be complete, officials with both agencies said.

But an initial Consumer Product Safety Commission inspection of at least one of the Fort Bragg houses in question raised concerns about toxic Chinese drywall, according to a detailed safety commission investigative report obtained by The Fayetteville Observer.

The federal report, released this week following a Freedom of Information Act request by the newspaper, focuses on the home on Groesbeck Street in the Ardennes neighborhood where three infants were living at separate times before dying suddenly.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, the lead federal agency looking into claims related to Chinese drywall, was called in to assist in the military probe of infant deaths after residents on post raised concerns about the possible use of the toxic imported building material, which is known to emit harmful sulfur gasses.

A Consumer Product Safety Commission investigator visited the Groesbeck Street house on Sept. 9, the report said.

The agent noted that many of the home’s metal fixtures were corroded, according to the report, and several of the home’s copper pipe fittings and wires had become blackened. Both are signs of Chinese drywall, the investigator wrote in the report.

At least two different types of drywall were used throughout the home, which was built in 2005, the investigator said in the report. He also noted a strong chemical odor throughout the home.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission report also details unexplained health troubles experienced by the parents and siblings of the three infants while they were staying at the home.

Pearline Scully, whose 2-month-old son died Feb. 24, 2008, after living at the house, told the investigator she and her husband had breathing problems while living at the home, and her other children developed boils and rashes on their skin.

Melissa Pollard’s 3-month-old son died at the house on April 15, 2009. She told the CPSC agent she and her husband also had respiratory problems while living at the house, which she said smelled of “rotten eggs” and chemicals.

Bianca Outlaw, whose 7-month-old daughter died at the Groesbeck Street house a few months later on July 23, 2009, told the investigator her baby was healthy before they moved into the house, but she soon developed a runny nose and a cough. Outlaw said she and her husband also became ill while living at the home, according to the report.

Many of the conditions described in the safety commission’s investigative report are indicative of Chinese drywall, according to federal guidelines. Further testing was needed, the investigator said in the report.

The imported building material was used in mass quantity earlier this decade during the housing boom and during rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Picerne, the private contractor charged with managing housing at Fort Bragg, has torn down, rebuilt or renovated thousands of homes at the installation in recent years.

Six of the homes where infants died suddenly, including the Groesbeck Street home, were built or renovated during or after the housing boom.

The CPSC investigator collected drywall samples from the Ardennes neighborhood home and inquired about the origins of building materials used in the house.

Those and other tests are pending, a spokesman with the federal agency said.

Tests ‘conclusive’
Sicinski said he was unaware of the CPSC report and said he would question the validity of any investigation that raised the possibility of Chinese drywall being in the houses.

The tests ordered by Fort Bragg ruled out the possibility of toxic drywall at each of the houses where infants died, Sicinski said.

“From our perspective, the tests are conclusive,” he said. “I’m pretty confident that the homes are safe.”

Sicinski said the testing by Fort Bragg wasn’t meant to offer closure for families whose babies died, but added that he “hoped to provide reassurance that it wasn’t the house.”

Audrey Oxendine, chief of the Fort Bragg Directorate of Public Works Environmental Compliance Branch, echoed Sicinski’s remarks.

“I think our tests have shown that there are no problems with the houses,” she said.

Oxendine said the environmental tests were based on adult exposure limits because there are no limit standards for infants.

Testing on behalf of Fort Bragg was conducted by Matrix Health and Safety Consultants and Womack Army Medical Center’s Environmental Health Service Department of Preventive Medicine. The analysis of the results was then completed by two other private firms, EMSL Analytical and Microbac Laboratories.

The full findings have not been released publicly as Sicinski said officials needed time to redact names and addresses from the results, he said. But he said the full reports would be made available.

“We are prepared to share all of the findings,” Sicinski said.

Staff writer Drew Brooks can be reached at brooksd@fayobserver.com or 486-3567. Staff writer Mike Hixenbaugh can be reached at hixenbaughm@fayobserver.com or (910) 486-3511.

# # #

COMMENTS

mht102299
Sorry but don’t have alot of faith in the military testing. Think of how long it took for them to admit there was a problem at Camp Lejeune with the water. I can remember 15 years ago going to my sisters house down there and all of them complaining back then about the water. Her neighborhood alone had 2 children die and 6 more come down with cancer in a 2 year period. Not to mention all the health problems everyone in the area had. I live in some of the new housing in Linden Oaks and there is something wrong with the housing here. I keep mildew in the garage, house smells like it all the time, neighbors house smells like soured milk ( and they just moved in) other neighbors indoor plants keep getting mold in the dirt and she has replanted time and again with fresh soil, have piles of vomit looking orange mold in the mulch they put around the house and numerous other things. Have had the air quality tests done no results yet. As for the mold outside they just tell you they have had complaints about it. Nothing done. They don’t care as long as they get their money. Getting out of here ASAP before one of my kids get sick.
10/27/2010 7:34:55 AM
Report abuse

@@
The military is just trying to cover its butt. I am glad to see CPSC doing there own testing. I bet there findings are different.
10/27/2010 8:35:31 AM
Report abuse
Ellie Ruby
I agree with the people that already posted. The post will try there hardest to cover up anything and everything and I think it is sad. It is almost like these people have no heart and only care about the impact to if the tests came out positive. If you look up Chinese drywall you will see that it states that most builders will use the US safe drywall and the Chinese drywall to cut costs on building.. so if in your home someone walks in and tests one wall you never know if it is the wall with the safe or unsafe drywall but the wall next to it could be the bad one.. I say tear down the houses and test everything.. Oh but they won’t do that because it will cost more “money” and more “paperwork” and more “time” .. things the Military makes sure to cut all the time and do not like to do.. I do not trust any military post due to the fact I have first hand been part of a post wanting to cover up an “incident” due to the negative impact it would have caused..
10/27/2010 8:51:38 AM
Report abuse

BBrincku
American drywall is also having problems. I hope they are looking into American tainted drywall. Here is our story:

On December 20, 2008 we read an article in the paper pertaining to Chinese Drywall, described all of the issues we were experiencing. We began our own investigation of our drywall and after reviewing pictures taken of the upstairs drywall before the installment, we determined at least in the upstairs we had no Chinese drywall. All of the pictures indicate the only drywall used upstairs was from National Gypsum Goldbond (Gridmarx). Additionally, our subcontractor insisted he used only American drywall in our home. At that point we were confused since we did not find any Chinese drywall in our home.

We began searching the internet for answers. We contacted Thomas Eagar, Sc.D., P.E. of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). We explained our situation and our health concerns regarding our 8 year old son, Harrison. He agreed to help us by testing samples of our drywall and other corroded items from our house. On January 5, 2009 we submitted samples to Thomas Eagar and Dr. Harold R. Larson, both of MIT. The samples consisted of drywall from National Gypsum Gridmarx & US Gypsum, corroded copper pennies, copper wiring & metal from our jewelry box.

From the drywall samples sent, MIT only tested the National Gypsum Gridmarx drywall sample taken from our air conditioning closet upstairs. They indicated our electrical system must be inspected and replaced as the sulfurous gases causing the corrosion have accelerated the aging process of wiring by tenfold or more. In other words, our four year old home has the wiring of a 40 year old home. Based on the report we received, both Professor Thomas Eagar and Dr. Harold Larson believe our drywall to be defective.

National Gypsum and Packer Engineering visited our home on March 5th-11th, 2009 and opened every wall. They determined our home didn’t contain any Chinese Drywall. National Gypsum acknowledged there was a serious problem in our home, but denied any issues with the drywall. Our test from MIT and Rimkus Consulting Group, the testing company that our builder’s insurance company hired, both confirmed that our drywall is off gassing. Rimkus tested our well water & told us our water is normal. We also have other scientists that also agree that our drywall is off gassing. Over the past four years our family has experienced various health problems including nose bleeds, respiratory issues, irritated eyes, dizziness, shortness of breath, severe headaches and fainting.

In conclusion, this ordeal has completely consumed our lives and we are worried about health concerns from our tainted drywall. With that said we are deeply committed to finding the truth. Our drywall came from Apollo Beach, FL. that is next to Teco Energy. There are no standards in making drywall. How was the consumer to know that the drywall was not pure mined gypsum anymore? We are digging deeper into what actually went wrong with our drywall. Our concern is that the drywall industry is totally unregulated. When we buy drywall we don’t know if it was made from byproducts from coal scrubbers or has had some recycled Chinese drywall scrap added to the mix. We had this drywall installed in our homes with no information as its contents nor will the manufactures provide this information. Now that our homes are contaminated we need to know and we have had to file a lawsuit to find out if we have hazardous material in our homes. This is not right! Our attorneys Robert Gary and Greg Weiss are investigating almost a hundred homes with contamination problems from a single drywall plants that makes it’s drywall from flue gas desulfurization. None of these people and perhaps thousands more have any way to find out the source of the raw material in their drywall. If flyash is designated as a hazardous material we as homeowners would have the right to know what we are putting in our homes and what we are exposing our children too. This should be our right these are our homes and they are unlivable and we have to fight in court to get the most basic information if our drywall was made with hazardous materials. That is just plain wrong! Regardless, attention and further detailed investigations need to occur in order to uncover the truth and restore not only our home, but those of the thousands of families that are being affected by this tragedy. I hope that my statement will serve as a catalyst to examine the health and safety issues that may involve American as well as the Chinese drywall. Please watch our two Youtube videos search “Brincku House” & “A Cry For Help”.
10/27/2010 9:21:45 AM
Report abuse

Armywife80
There is just too much coincidence for any of this to not be related. I guarantee if this was happening in the post commanders home, or any senior officer house, it would have been taken care of after the first baby died. Have the post officials forgotten that everything the Army has is made by the lowest bidder?
10/27/2010 9:25:39 AM
Report abuse
Jose I Cardona
The problem is the water!
I have stated before on another blog that the problem is the water that Ft Bragg gets from the river coming of the little river area.
But if it is not the water and I will like to read about the federal findings before I believe the Ft Bragg Findings, Then what is the common denominator among these military families? The common denominators is plain as day and right in front of you. It is the combat uniforms or the so called ACU”S. These uniforms were dump on the military a few years ago with out proper testing of the materials and the chemicals that they are laced with. Yes, in case you didn’t know, the acu’s are laced with chemicals that is supposed to give protection to soldiers against radar detection. Some acu’s are also fire retardant and more chemicals are placed in them. If these soldiers went and bought new uniforms and never wash them right away or just put them in their closets, then I can see that as a major problem. I have known some of my friends that removed all their clothes before they come into their homes because of the smell that these uniforms put out once the body heat and sweat mixes with the chemicals on the uniforms. How many uniforms do soldiers have around the house? The more the bigger the problem. Good luck on your quest and hope that the problem is found right away before another child is lost. “Starve a soldier,Feed the for profit ASOM”.
10/27/2010 9:48:07 AM
Report abuse

mht102299
I am glad to see that others have the same feeling toward this as I do. A coverup. I wonder if they have considered invesitgating any of Picerne’s other property holdings to see if the same problem is going on with any of them? They don’t just do military housing, they have apartments, condos and houses throughout the country. Maybe if they researched this they could narrow down if it was a problem local to the area, if it was a problem with building materials or if it was contrators fault. I would hate for anyone military or not to get sick or lose a child because of the negligence of a company or it’s contractors.
10/27/2010 10:29:28 AM
Report abuse

Marena Groll
“Sicinski said he was unaware of the CPSC report and said he would question the validity of any investigation that raised the possibility of Chinese drywall being in the houses…From our perspective, the tests are conclusive,” he said. “I’m pretty confident that the homes are safe.”

I’m “pretty confident” you’re jumping through hoops now to get that report. And I’m 100% confident that the validity of the transparency and truthfulness of the military investigative efforts are being questioned by some soldiers and family members reminded by you that it was a privilege to live in these homes. Try the fit of that insult on coming not from your perspective but the perspective of a gravesite.

We do not know what caused these death conclusively as yet. But we do know that institutions that threaten their members aren’t trusted to investigate objectively by those members.
10/27/2010 10:59:23 AM
Report abuse
Marena Groll
“The agent noted that many of the home’s metal fixtures were corroded, according to the report, and several of the home’s copper pipe fittings and wires had become blackened. Both are signs of Chinese drywall, the investigator wrote in the report.

At least two different types of drywall were used throughout the home, which was built in 2005, the investigator said in the report. He also noted a strong chemical odor throughout the home.”

So are the military invesitigators saying there was no corrosion or chemical odor or were they wearing blindfolds with clothespins on their noses during their investigations?

The stories are just not lining up. It leaves the soldiering families in a quandry. CPSC says this. Military says that.
10/27/2010 11:07:12 AM
Report abuse
Cork Lock
“I think our tests have shown that there are no problems with the houses,” she said.
Oxendine said the environmental tests were based on adult exposure limits because there are no limit standards for infants.

Well lady, Infants aren’t adults. And Infants
are dead.

Col. Stephen Sicinski, garrison commander at Fort Bragg, and Audrey Oxendine, chief of the Fort Bragg Directorate of Public Works Environmental Compliance Branch,
need to spend the next six months living in that no problem home where two infants died.
Big talk soon put to rest. Proof in the pudding. Are they willing to back up their words?
I think not!
10/27/2010 11:48:21 AM
Report abuse

Marena Groll
Cork Lock,
Agreed. Moreover, maybe they would have liked to have gamble the lives of THEIR children when they were infants. I doubt “no standards” would have have been a sufficient response.
10/27/2010 1:24:58 PM
Report abuse

Georgia Denyse
I suggest that Sicinski and other high ranking officials move into these homes if they believe they are safe. PROVE IT! The military lies and lies to cover up crap. Agent Orange, Gulf War Syndrome, issues with depleted uranium, radical muslims serving… Seriously, does anyone believe that the homes are safe?
10/27/2010 3:59:49 PM
Report abuse
william campbell
The perpetrators were allowed to investigate themselves and found themselves innocent of any wrongdoing. Is anyone surprised? The US Military cannot handle the truth about ANYTHING.
10/27/2010 4:37:49 PM
Report abuse
mht102299
tax payer
Stop crying AIRBORNE those houses are fine they were built with my tax dollars AIRBORNE u live there free AIRBORNE

tax payer- They were built with my tax money too. You do realize that military pay taxes don’t you? We don’t live in housing for free. They take our BAH for this housing. You should know this since you seem so well informed. (sarcasm intended) Kinda a waste of my time to even acknowledge your post but had to make a point. I am sure my tax dollars are paying for something for you. AIRBORNE imbecile.
10/27/2010 11:09:11 PM
Report abuse
really
I’ve got to point this out. Most of you posting here are “support the troops anytime any where people”, but when it affects you or is close to home the military “can’t be trusted”.

Surely you don’t think that an Army made up of upstanding, patriotic individuals who claim to sacrifice thier entire lives and families for the country would lie or cover things up??????

You guys need to make up your mind, an organization made up of noble, self sacrificing people with noble values and the well being of people around the world can’t be corrupt enought to endanger babies and lie about it. Of course a group of people who will expose themselves to war and the worst that humanity has to offer for a paycheck and retirement benefits/free medical care could do this easily, so which is it??????
10/28/2010 6:21:52 AM
Report abuse

Cubist Tut
It seems to me that a lot of you are questioning the Army’s values. Which are Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. If so… Then you will continue to question the Army in everything they do because you have lost faith in them. And if you are in the Army and you continue to serve, even though you have no faith in it, does not that make you a hypocrite! So my question is… who is the hypocrite here? The soldiers that serve or their leadership?
10/28/2010 7:09:52 AM
Report abuse

Grot 6
“I’ve got to point this out. Most of you posting here are “support the troops anytime any where people”, but when it affects you or is close to home the military “can’t be trusted”.

Surely you don’t think that an Army made up of upstanding, patriotic individuals who claim to sacrifice thier entire lives and families for the country would lie or cover things up??????

You guys need to make up your mind, an organization made up of noble, self sacrificing people with noble values and the well being of people around the world can’t be corrupt enought to endanger babies and lie about it. Of course a group of people who will expose themselves to war and the worst that humanity has to offer for a paycheck and retirement benefits/free medical care could do this easily, so which is it?????? ”

It’s not about anything other than good old fashioned American greed, Blatant incompetence, Ineptitude, and more than a little denial.

This is what you get when you combine contracted government housing with someone who is only interested in their next OER.

We know for a fact that the housing was put up in haste, without more than a thought in someone’s mind that the place that the housing was set up at was acceptable.

Next we get the added insult of distributing our soldiers housing issues to someone who is only interested in their bottom line, and then to top it all off we have AMERICAN SERVICE MEMBERS tied at the hip to an organization that’s only interest is their pocket book.

Is there any wonder that babies have to pay the price for failure?

When was the last time soil testing was done in this particular area?

When was the last time the EPA conducted an environmental survey of the site?

Aside from the fact that the issues were well documented, and an air of cover-up exists, it is high time that the denial cease, and that honest community efforts be given this issue.

Honestly, these people have babies blood on their hands, if they have taken the stance that nothing is wrong, when clearly there is a pattern of dead children in the area, then they forfeit the issue to outside scrutiny that needs to be seen to by the FBI or other outside agencies for profiteering, outright deficient standards, and graft.

At the end of the day, what is really on the table is credability.

WHAT have these so called investigators done about this issue to keep thiers?
10/28/2010 7:32:26 AM
Report abuse

Curious
I’m still betting cash money that it’s vaccines the children were given. Bragg did have Benzene in the water years ago. It could be recurring. The problem is some of these children have died through neglect. My appologies to those for their loss. My source which shall stay anonymous lives there. He/She stated half these women are dancers and hookers downtown and not taking care of their kids while the husband is deployed. This will make it hard to investigate to get to the truth. I hope they find the cause.
10/28/2010 9:20:57 AM
Report abuse

Jo
Having lost a child to SIDS (not on Ft. Bragg) and as sad as this is, it does happen. Living on base is a choice. Also the number of babies who have died versus the number of families and the number of years this is covering, this isn’t an extraordinary percentage. When you place a large number of people together your going to find traits. This is a very sad one, however it is not only on Ft Bragg. I would hope that parents like I and others that are concerned enough to post anything, research and aide the common fact SIDS. Help find a cure for this and we may be on to something.
10/28/2010 10:38:45 AM
Report abuse

travis da frog
the gov is a lie
10/28/2010 12:19:58 PM
Report abuse
This one guy
Is it just me , or is the government just a bunch of liars and messed up people
10/28/2010 12:25:44 PM
Report abuse

StillSickOfTaxPayer
This is quit disturbing. I agree with the person that said that they investigated themselves & found themselves innocent. {Big eye roll.}

TaxPayer, are you an internet troll & hater of the Military because you couldn’t get in?
10/28/2010 1:10:14 PM
Report abuse

voter and taxpayer
The other common denominator is stress. Deployments, seperation from families . I am sorry they lost their chidren but all things cannot be blamed on housing their are many reasons that children do not survive to be adults. I know many women that cannot carry a child to term and they nor their spouse or other family members were not in the military. So please lets keep looking for the real cause and stop jumping to conculsions
10/28/2010 2:45:02 PM
Report abuse
Pentagon Papers
Sounds like another conspiracy to me.
10/28/2010 3:44:58 PM
Report abuse

mlh
“piles of vomit looking orange mold in the mulch”. Even though it may look gross, this is probably a naturally occurring slime mold that loves moist/humid soil & lawns. It is not harmful & will go away if the ground dries out and you get some extended sun.

Similarly, it sounds like it is damp & humid inside the house, which molds love. Getting the humidity below 60% indoors is key to solving the mold problem inside, as well as some of the odor problems. Many volatile chemicals like formaldehyde off-gas more when it’s humid. Find & fix all water leaks, then use a dehumidifier to control moisture in the air. Most newer units have an automatic shut-off, so if the power is on, it will only run when it needs to. Running the air conditioner all of the time will also help ring water out of the air.
10/28/2010 5:37:11 PM
Report abuse

Myrt Hurley
Did they test the water system and the water itself?
10/29/2010 8:33:44 PM
Report abuse
lori gray
Ok, so you say the house tested positive for chinese drywall, then you say the secondary test came back negative, then you say it was based on adult limitations, but u dont know about infants. so how do we know what the truth is. i think personally you dont know what the hell u are talking about sicinski needs to step and let the big dogs get in there that knows what they are doing. i personally dont think he knows what the hell hes talking about or hes talking out the side of his mouth. everything that comes out of the side of his mouth has done nothing but hurt the families of these babies. what would you do sicinski if it was one of your babies….. b mad or have faith in the military….. i dont think so!!!!!!!! lori gray, nana of mya and jay….. Thank you mr. hixenbaum for everything you have done in keeping us updated and letting us know what we have in the military(CID, SICINSKI) lori gray
10/30/2010 6:31:14 PM
Report abuse

read article at the Fay Observer site

Elana Schor, E&E reporter

Energy magnate David Koch quietly ceded his spot on a National Cancer Institute (NCI) advisory board last month, but green advocates are taking aim at the conservative mega-donor nonetheless by calling for a review of federal ethics policies that allowed him to sit on the panel despite a potential conflict of interest.

Koch Industries Inc., the privately held company run by Koch and his brother Charles, burst onto the political scene this year thanks to multimillion-dollar contributions the duo steered to right-leaning groups that help fuel the tea party movement. But David Koch’s membership on the National Cancer Advisory Board, which advises NCI, became a flashpoint of its own after The New Yorker magazine last month reported that a Koch-owned company lobbied against designating formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen while he sat on the panel.

In a request sent Monday to the Office of Government Ethics, which polices executive-branch conflicts of interest, Greenpeace and Physicians for Social Responsibility asked for a full accounting of any financial disclosures Koch was required to make ahead of his nomination to the advisory board by then-President George W. Bush.

“It is astounding that [advisory board] rules permit the selection of any board members with known bias and direct conflicts of interests to be on the [advisory] board where they can directly influence matters as important as public health policy,” representatives from the two groups wrote.

An NCI study published last year helped inform a recommendation by an expert panel of the National Toxicology Program (NTP) — like NCI, operating under the larger National Institutes of Health aegis — that formaldehyde be listed as a “known human carcinogen.” Georgia-Pacific, a wood products maker that Koch Industries purchased in 2005, later submitted public comments that “strongly disagree[d]” with the notion of a causal link between formaldehyde exposure and cancer.

“We want to know how much was known before the appointment was made and how the advisory board reconciles that it’s got a member who has a clear financial interest in promoting formaldehyde,” Greenpeace campaigner Gabe Wisniewski, whose group submitted a separate Freedom of Information Act request to NCI yesterday, said in an interview.

“If there is no plan for accounting for that conflict of interest, we expect not only Greenpeace but many groups within the health and environmental community would be reasonable in asking for Koch to be dismissed from the board.”

In fact, Koch has departed the board already. His name is no longer listed on its online roster, and an NCI spokeswoman confirmed that last month’s meeting of the panel was the swan song for the now-ubiquitous conservative donor. Koch’s appointment to the board was originally set to expire in March, but existing rules allowed for an extension of his membership, the spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, political jockeying continues unabated over formaldehyde and the Koch brothers’ role in resisting stricter regulation of their chemical and oil interests. In an online response <http://www.kochind.com/kochFacts/>  to the New Yorker article, the company slammed its critics and touted the nine-figure donations that David Koch, a prostate cancer survivor, has sent to research centers working on the disease.

EPA’s draft assessment of formaldehyde, released in June, echoes the NTP expert panel’s conclusion that exposure to the chemical increases cancer risk in humans. But that finding is unlikely to spur new limits on the substance in the short term, given that industry successfully pushed for a delay in final action until after the National Academy of Sciences reviews the EPA decision (Greenwire , April 16).

click here  to read the two groups’ request for an OGE review.

BASRA, Iraq – Agence France-Presse

A young Iraqi cancer patient sits on a bed in the newly inaugurated Basra Children's Hospital. AFP photo

Iraq’s first specialist cancer hospital for children could not have opened in a needier location – since 1993, Basra province has seen a sharp rise in the incidence of childhood cancer.

“Leukemia among children under 15 has increased by about four times,” said Dr. Janan Hasan of the Basra Children’s Hospital.

“Most are high-risk cases, which means that they do not have a high survival rate,” she told Agence France-Presse on the sidelines of the opening ceremony, where hapless parents with sick children in tow, many with the tell-tale baldness of chemotherapy, clustered around the pediatrician.

The facility, which was built with multinational assistance and funds, officially opened on Thursday but has been partially operational for several months, Hasan said.

“This hospital is a very important achievement, and I thank everyone who helped build it,” she said.

“This is a very good effort, but we still do not have advanced equipment, labs and many medicines. We hope to acquire them over time.

“Three-year-old Muntadhar, his green eyes staring dolefully from his mother’s arms, is one of the patients the hospital cannot help because it does not have the equipment. Muntadhar, an intravenous insertion needle bandaged to his foot, was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor a year ago, his mother Inas Ahmed said.

“We took him to Iran a few months ago and they cut him open to try to help him,” she said, lifting his orange Mickey Mouse T-shirt to reveal a deep scar across his belly. “But they said they couldn’t help and now we are trying to take him abroad, maybe to Thailand,” she said with a look of resignation.

A hospital official said they were working through some charities to arrange the operation, which Muntadhar’s poor parents cannot afford.

Halima Mukhtar, draped in a loose black veil, carried her four-year-old son Musa on her right shoulder.

“Thank God for this hospital, otherwise I wouldn’t know where else to turn,” she said, a bottle of medicine in one hand.

“In this world I have only God and the people at this hospital,” she added,” as Musa, wearing flip-flops on his feet and a surgeon’s mask that covered most of his face, stared down blankly from his perch.

Hasan said the increasing cases of cancer in Basra were best documented in a study published this year by the University of Washington in Seattle, conducted with input from her and the Ibn Ghazwan teaching hospital.

The report found leukemia in Basra among children under 15 had grown year to year from 1993-2007.

“We observed 698 cases of childhood leukemia between 1993 and 2007, ranging between 15 cases in the first year and 56 cases in the final year, reaching a peak of 97 cases in 2006,” said the study, authored by Amy Hagopian and Tim Takaro, and published in the American Journal of Public Health.

“Basra’s childhood leukemia rates compare unfavorably to those of neighboring Kuwait and nearby Oman, as well as the U.S and the European Union and other countries,” the study said. “The incidence of cancer is significantly higher in Basra province than in other parts of Iraq,” said Mohammed Kamil, the hospital’s deputy director.

Remnants of war

Speculation has focused on industrial pollution, the huge volumes of burning gas from oil wells in the energy-rich province, and Basra’s position in the frontline of wars in past three decades: the 1980-1988 conflict with Iran, the 1991 Gulf War and the U.S.-led invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein.” We hypothesize that hazardous exposures during these wars may have been leukemogenic,” said the Hagopian-Takaro study. What weapons were actually used in those wars, and by Saddam himself against his own people to put down a 1991 Shiite uprising in the south, is anyone’s guess. Some of the conjecture has centered on depleted uranium weapons used by U.S. and coalition forces in the 1991 war to liberate Kuwait and the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. But in Iraq the possible link between the radioactive metal and health problems has not been proven.

The hospital, decorated with portraits of Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse prancing about with his girlfriend Minnie, was built with help from the United States, Spain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, the U.N. Development Program and Project Hope.

“This project will have a capability to serve the people of Iraq and its people and children of Iraq for many years to come,” said Brigadier-General Randal Dragon, Deputy Commander for Support of the U.S. army base in Basra.” From that perspective, all of us should be proud and hope this project will pay big dividends,” he told AFP.

Last week, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) took the very rare step of issuing a public health advisory in Garfield, NJ due to extremely high levels of toxic hexavalent chromium (VI) found in basements of homes.

The ATSDR advisory was the subject of a standing room only public meeting on Oct. 5 at Garfield’s Roosevelt School, which is located less than 300 feet from EC Electroplating, the source of the chromium pollution.

This meeting attendee reported that three members of her family have cancer.

ATSDR found that the high levels found in residential basement samples create an “immediate and significant risk to human health”. The risk level translates into a cancer risk of 3 in 10 (see Table 5), which is 300,000 times HIGHER than NJ’s legal cancer risk standard of one in a million.

ATSDR was created by the 1980 Superfund law to provide scientific advice to EPA and inform the public about health risk of hazardous chemicals. They do health assessments in 300-400 communities per year across the country. Since their creation in 1980, ATSDR has issued only 27 advisories in the entire country, and none since 1999.

“I asked the head of ATSDR’s Division of Health Assessment Bill Cibulas point blank whether he had ever seen cancer risks like Garfield chromium (3 in 10) anywhere in the US – including notorius Superfund sites like Love Canal, NY; Times Beach Missouri; and Libby Montana – and he said “no”, reports Bill Wolfe, who spent 13 years as a Policy Analyst and Planner with the NJ Department of Environmental Protection. “That makes Garfield perhaps the highest cancer risk site in the US,” Wolfe notes.

A cancer study is expected to be released in November.

For more information:

Health Consultation. E.C. Electroplating
(A/K/A Garfield Chromium Groundwater Contamination Site)
Garfield, Bergen County, New Jersey
Epa Facility Id: Njd002006773
Prepared By The
New Jersey Department Of Health And Senior Services
September 28, 2010

EPA documents about Garfield NJ

Garfield Cancer Risk From Chromium in Basements is Highest in US WolfeNotes.com 10/8/2010.

New Jersey DHHS Information on Garfield Chromium Groundwater Contamination Site

Bergen Record editorial asks “what took so long?” Garfield’s chromium problem

From 2005:
NEW JERSEY FACING CHROMIUM EMERGENCY – 1 IN 10 CANCER RISKS — State Scientist Reveals DEP Cover-Up; Demand for Federal Intervention

By Mitra Malek, The Palm Beach Post

THE ACREAGE — Federal regulators have signed off on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s conclusion that no evidence exists of water or soil pollution in The Acreage, despite that community’s state-declared cancer cluster.

The nod is yet another indication that the state is winding down its investigation after more than 15 months of searching for a cause for the childhood brain cancer cluster.

In a short letter, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency summed up its review of state environmental officials’ work toward studying the cluster, and said the DEP did a thorough job testing soil and ground water in The Acreage. The Palm Beach County Health Department posted the letter on its website on Thursday.

“The FDEP’s investigation was comprehensive in its analytical testing and included sufficient number of ground water samples to screen this large area for drinking water contamination and sufficient number of soil samples to support the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) evaluation of health concerns,” the Oct. 5 letter said. “We agree with FDEP’s conclusion that the data show no indication of widespread ground water or soil contamination; nor any evidence suggesting the existence of any significant localized source(s) of contamination.”

State environmental officials have said that water quality in the semi-rural community of 40,000 is “generally good.”

The state health department launched an investigation into the cancer cluster in June 2009 at the request of an Acreage mother whose child had a brain tumor. The state declared the cluster in February, saying it had found four cases of childhood brain cancer from 2005 to 2007 in the central Palm Beach County community, when one or two would be considered normal.

The state’s soil, water and radiation tests, along with historical and lifestyle interviews of cancer-stricken families, haven’t turned up a cause for the elevated rate.

State environmental investigators tested for more than 200 industrial and agricultural pollutants in the water and soil.

Soil tests at 46 locations showed levels for three chemicals were too high at 11 homes: arsenic, benzo(a)pyrene and total recoverable petroleum hydrocarbons. But Florida Environmental Health Director Lisa Conti said those contaminants are not known to cause brain cancer, nor were the levels high enough to harm health.

Water tests completed at 23 homes showed untreated well water at four locations had elevated levels of radium or alpha particles. Radium-226 and radium-228 are naturally occurring radioactive metals that could cause cancer at elevated levels. Alpha particles are a product of radiation.

“The radiological data … show no results that would warrant further investigation, or would cause any elevated risk to the public,” the EPA letter said.

The state doesn’t plan to do any more environmental tests. It has sent its study to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for review.

By KEVIN P. CRAVER – kcraver@nwherald.com

A Philadelphia judge hearing the first McCullom Lake brain cancer lawsuit against Rohm and Haas abruptly ended the trial and dismissed the jury five weeks into the case.

Judge Allan Tereshko late Thursday declared the trial over, an assistant to the judge confirmed Friday. The trial, which started Sept. 20, was expected to run eight to 10 weeks.Ring

A Friday order handed down by Tereshko indicates that his decision is related to “changes” in the expert report of plaintiff epidemiologist Richard Neugebauer, which concluded that a cluster of glioblastoma multiforme brain cancer exists in the McCullom Lake area.

Tereshko ordered plaintiff’s attorneys by close of business Monday to produce all communication between the law firm and Neugebauer regarding changes to his expert report. It also orders Neugebauer, a Columbia University epidemiologist, to “preserve the contents of his computer and any other devices that he has used in connection with this work on this case and/or for communications with Plaintiff’s counsel and his staff.”

That order reveals that plaintiff’s attorneys made an oral motion for a mistrial, and that attorneys for Rohm and Haas asked Tereshko to rule that the company is not liable. Tereshko gave both sides until Nov. 15 to file briefs in support of their motions.

Rohm and Haas attorney Kevin Van Wart declined to comment, and plaintiff’s attorney Aaron Freiwald would not elaborate on the development.

“We are disappointed that the trial is over, but the case is not concluded,” Freiwald said in a statement. “Plaintiff and defense motions that will impact the proceedings are pending before the court.”

The lawsuit by longtime village resident Joanne Branham is the first of 32 that alleges that air and groundwater pollution from the Ringwood specialty chemicals plant caused a brain and pituitary cancer cluster in the village and the Lakeland Park subdivision in McHenry. Branham lost her husband, Franklin, to glioblastoma in 2004, and her two former next-door neighbors were diagnosed with an even rarer but much more survivable form of brain tumor.

Rohm and Haas declined to comment.

“Rohm and Haas intends to reserve comment until all issues are resolved,” spokeswoman Maureen Garrity said Friday.

Neugebauer’s study, released last August with updated data from the Illinois State Cancer Registry, concluded that the incidence rate of glioblastoma multiforme in the area is between three and five times higher than the county and state. The year 2006 was the latest data set for the cancer registry, which runs three years behind as a quality control measure.

Van Wart, from the study’s release to trial, had said that Neugebauer’s work contained deep and significant problems.

A month after Branham and her two neighbors filed the first lawsuits in April 2006, the McHenry County Department of Health concluded that area brain cancer rates were not above normal, and that contamination oozing from a closed 8-acre waste pit at the Rohm and Haas site never reached village wells.

Northwest Herald investigations concluded that the health department’s work was deeply flawed and biased in favor of Rohm and Haas; several company executives got to review the department’s work before its public release.

The original lawsuits included Modine Manufacturing, a plant directly south of Rohm and Haas, which contributed to the contamination plume. Modine denied culpability for any illnesses but settled out of court with plaintiffs in 2008.

On the Net

You can read and watch the Northwest Herald’s ongoing coverage of the McCullom Lake brain cancer lawsuits at NWHerald.com/mccullomlake.

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Can environmental toxins be responsible for a cluster of thyroid cancer cases in one New York office? If your mother or father had thyroid cancer, are you at increased risk? These are among the questions posed last week by readers of the Consults blog. Dr. R. Michael Tuttle, an endocrinologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, responds.

Q. Can Environmental Toxins Cause Thyroid Cancer?

I was one of a group of nine people in my old office who had some type of thyroid issue. Another friend had Hurthle cell carcinoma, and several others did not have thyroid cancer but had either overactive or underactive thyroids. We obtained a review by the N.I.H., which concluded that our “cell” was too disparate in diagnoses to justify the conclusion that there was an environmental cause for the thyroid problems. What do you think?

Lisa, New York State

A. Dr. Tuttle responds:

Most of the time we don’t know what causes a specific patient’s thyroid cancer. The only well-accepted risk factor for the common types of thyroid cancer — papillary and follicular thyroid cancers — is exposure to ionizing radiation that occurs after exposure to fallout from nuclear reactors (like that following the Chernobyl accident), atomic bombs or therapeutic uses of radiation during young childhood.

However, since the incidence of thyroid cancer has dramatically increased over the last 20 years, both in the United States and abroad, many investigators are re-examining the possibility that some environmental factor may be linked to the rise in thyroid cancer. But as of now, no specific chemical or environmental factor has been demonstrated to commonly cause thyroid cancer in humans.

Q. Is Thyroid Cancer Inherited?

In 1977, our mother died of thyroid cancer that had metastasized to her spine. My brother and I were young at the time, and her records have since been destroyed. She was treated at what was then Columbia Presbyterian in New York. So we don’t have the pathology report to see what type of thyroid cancer it was. My question is — are there types that are hereditary? And, since hers had metastasized, it seems it was aggressive. Does that make it more likely hers was a hereditary form? In other words, how worried should my brother and I, and our own children, be about having inherited the disease?

Mary, Maine

Q. My father died of anaplastic thyroid cancer at the age of 53. Is there any known genetic component to this type of thyroid cancer, and do I need any screening for thyroid cancer beyond routine thyroid palpation at my annual gyn exam?

S., New York, N.Y.

A. Dr. Tuttle responds:

We don’t generally consider the common types of thyroid cancer — papillary, follicular, tall cell variants, anaplastic — to be hereditary. However, recent studies show that perhaps as many as 5 percent of patients with these types of thyroid cancer may have multiple family members with the same type of thyroid cancer. The specific gene that causes these rare family cases is unknown, and therefore no genetic testing can be done. I usually only worry about this type of thyroid cancer being hereditary if three or more family members have the same type of thyroid cancer. If only one other family member has the same thyroid cancer, it is still very unlikely to be “hereditary” and is more likely just to be random chance.

On the other hand, a rare form of thyroid cancer known as medullary thyroid cancer can be hereditary. As many as 25 percent of patients with medullary thyroid cancer do have a familial form of the disease that is inherited. The genetic cause of this form of cancer is known — it is caused by mutations in a structure called the RET proto-oncogene — and genetic testing is commercially available. We recommend genetic testing for all of our patients with medullary thyroid cancer.

For more information, see the Q&A with Dr. Tuttle in “Ask an Expert About Thyroid Cancer”> and The Times Health Guide: Thyroid Cancer. Additional responses from Dr. Tuttle will be posted in the coming week here on the Consults blog.

Medical News Today

Why was cancer detected in only one in a few hundred Egyptian mummies? Why is there such scarce reference to cancer in ancient Greek or Egyptian texts? A study carried out by researchers from the University of Manchester, England and published in Nature suggests that cancer, especially cancer among children and young adults is not simply due to our living longer these days – it must be a man-made disease. The scientists say theirs is “the first histological diagnosis of cancer in an Egyptian mummy”.

Investigators at Manchester University’s KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology say their study proves that during the Egyptian mummies’ time, cancer was extremely rare. After investigating hundreds of mummies, they came across just one case of cancer – worldwide only two cases have ever been detected. Incidence of cancer, especially childhood cancer exploded after the Industrial Revolution.

Professor Rosalie David, at Manchester University’s Faculty of Life Sciences, said:

In industrialized societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. But in ancient times, it was extremely rare. There is nothing in the natural environment that can cause cancer. So it has to be a man-made disease, down to pollution and changes to our diet and lifestyle.

The important thing about our study is that it gives a historical perspective to this disease. We can make very clear statements on the cancer rates in societies because we have a full overview. We have looked at millennia, not one hundred years, and have masses of data.

Professor Michael Zimmerman, a visiting professor at the KNH Centre, made the first ever histological diagnosis of cancer in an Egyptian mummy. The mummy was said to be an ordinary person, from the Ptolemaic period.

Zimmerman said:

In an ancient society lacking surgical intervention, evidence of cancer should remain in all cases. The virtual absence of malignancies in mummies must be interpreted as indicating their rarity in antiquity, indicating that cancer causing factors are limited to societies affected by modern industrialization.

The investigators examined literary evidence from ancient Greece and Egypt, as well as mummified remains from ancient Egypt. They also carried out medical examinations of animal and human remains further back in history, as far back as the period of the dinosaurs.

They found that:
* According to animal, non-human primates, and early human remains and fossil evidence, cancer was extremely uncommon. One Edmontosaurus fossil of unknown primary origin had evidence of metastatic cancer.

* Virtually all evidence of tumors, which were extremely uncommon anyway, were benign.

* The few malignancies were found were in non-human primates, but none of them are cancers found in modern adult humans.
Atherosclerosis, Paget’s disease of bone, and osteoporosis did exist in ancient Greece and Egypt – diseases that affect humans when they are older; old enough to develop common modern cancers. If humans at that time lived long enough to develop those diseases, the extreme rarity of cancer cannot be put down to very short life spans. People in those days lived long enough to develop the cancer adults develop today. Also, there is no evidence of any childhood cancers in ancient Greece or Egypt. Cancer among children is definitely much more common today than it was in ancient Greece/Egypt.

Some people have suggested that tumors do not preserve well, so evidence of them disappears over time. However, Zimmerman says mummification preservers malignancy features; in fact, it preserves tumors much better than normal tissue.

Of all the hundreds of mummies examined all over the world, just two have microscopic evidence of cancer. Radiologists have examined all the mummies at museums in Cairo and Europe and found no evidence of cancer at all.

Evidence of cancer and medical procedures, such as operations for cancers does not appear until the 17th century, the researchers reveal. Scientific literature depicting distinctive tumors have only been about for the last 200 years, when data started to be documented about chimney sweeps with scrotal cancer in 1775, nasal cancer in snuff users in 1761, and Hodgkin’s disease in 1832.

Professor David said:

Where there are cases of cancer in ancient Egyptian remains, we are not sure what caused them. They did heat their homes with fires, which gave off smoke, and temples burned incense, but sometimes illnesses are just thrown up.

The ancient Egyptian data offers both physical and literary evidence, giving a unique opportunity to look at the diseases they had and the treatments they tried. They were the fathers of pharmacology so some treatments did work.

They were very inventive and some treatments thought of as magical were genuine therapeutic remedies. For example, celery was used to treat rheumatism back then and is being investigated today. Their surgery and the binding of fractures were excellent because they knew their anatomy: there was no taboo on working with human bodies because of mummification. They were very hands on and it gave them a different mindset to working with bodies than the Greeks, who had to come to Alexandria to study medicine.

(Conclusion) Yet again extensive ancient Egyptian data, along with other data from across the millennia, has given modern society a clear message – cancer is man-made and something that we can and should address.

“Cancer: an old disease, a new disease or something in between?”
A. Rosalie David & Michael R. Zimmerman
Nature Reviews Cancer 10, 728-733 (October 2010) | doi:10.1038/nrc2914

read online

By Bryant Furlow on Oct 05, 2010

A neighborhood cluster of newly-diagnosed measles or tuberculosis – or any of a dozen other infectious diseases — unleashes an onslaught of federal expertise and resources.

But not so for clusters of birth defects or chronic diseases like cancer, asthma or autoimmune disorders.

More than 1,000 citizens ask public health agencies to investigate suspected chronic disease clusters across the U.S. each year, but state agencies are usually unable to offer a substantive response to such requests because of funding and staffing limitations – problems first highlighted by epiNewswire in 2006.

Now, proposed legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) would create a nationwide database of suspected clusters and deploy federal agency resources to investigations into environmental correlates of local disease clusters.

“Health officials are currently working with their hands tied as they don’t have the resources or time to address the concerns,” explains National disease Cluster Alliance (NDCA) Executive Director Terry Nordbrock, MPH. “I keep being contacted by people whose state cancer registry officials have confirmed an unexpectedly high rate of disease, but their only suggestion for intervention is to invite the concerned residents to speak at smoking cessation workshops. This boil will be a real game-changer as we will now be able to directly address the environmental concerns that community members are asking.”

The proposed law would strengthen federal inter-agency coordination of cluster investigations and authorize federal partnerships with states and universities to investigate disease clusters. Federal labs would support biomonitoring and analysis of environmental contaminents, for example.

The legislation was initiated by Susan Rosser, Charlie Smith, and Smith’s son Trevor Schaefer, a childhood brain cancer survivor, and University of Arizona toxicologist Mark Witten. Schaefer and his mother founded the Trevor’s Trek Foundation to push for more research into environmental causes of chronic disease clusters.

“Environmental toxin exposure is insidious in all instances, yet affects our children in greater proportion than adults,” Schaefer says. “This bill will help eradicate predatory disease by bringing together agencies with the relevant expertise needed to investigate these clusters.”

Local business and real estate interests often oppose public discussion of suspected disease clusters, which may implicate corporate pollutors or otherwise harm local economies.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control investigated two childhood leukemia clusters in the early 2000s: the Fallon, Nevada leukemia cluster and the Sierra Vista, Arizona cluster, without successfully identifying the cause of those clusters. Part of the problem, leukemia epidemiologists like UC San Francisco’s Joseph Wiemels say, is that even pronounced clusters like Fallon – which involved 16 children diagnosed in a town of 8,500 in fewer than five years – involve case numbers so low that meaningful statistical analyses can be a challenge.

But by encouraging nationwide tracking and analyses of such clusters, proponents say, the proposed law could provide larger numbers – and new insights into the elusive causes of greusome chronic diseases.

“The online database that this bill will create will go a long way toward creating transparency that is currently lacking for communities experiencing disease clusters,” Nordbrock says.

epiNewswire