最新杏吧原创

Elevated cancer rates in North County are probably not linked to radiation exposure from the creek, according to the report from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services in response to the concerns of former residents who started noticing an uptick in cancers among childhood friends and classmates in 2011.

State epidemiologists studied the incidence and death rates of 27 types of cancer in six ZIP codes adjacent to the creek (63031, 63033, 63034, 63042, 63134 and 63138) from 1996 to 2004. They found that rates of breast, colon, kidney and prostate cancers in the area were higher than expected based on residents鈥� age, race and gender. The report attributes the rates primarily to risk factors including smoking, lack of exercise, poor diet and diabetes. The rates of two cancer types most commonly linked to radiation, leukemias and thyroid tumors, were the same or lower than would be expected in a similar population.

The study, while limited in its scope, used standard public health measures and can offer some reassurance to current residents that there is no ongoing concern about high levels of radioactive material in the creek, said Dr. Graham Colditz, deputy director of the Institute for Public Health at Washington University.

鈥淭he downside is they鈥檙e looking at cancer in the recent past,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he cancers being diagnosed in our ZIP codes of interest today may be in people who didn鈥檛 grow up in the area. Or people maybe grew up there but have moved away. They鈥檙e not necessarily getting a link between exposure and the cancers that might be caused by it.鈥�

Because state cancer registries record only the patient鈥檚 address at the time of diagnosis, that is all researchers have to work with, Colditz said.

The state health department declined interview requests for the report鈥檚 seven authors. Department spokeswoman Gena Terlizzi acknowledged the study鈥檚 limitations and said the ZIP codes and dates in the study were chosen for the availability of cancer and census data.

鈥淭he Department of Health and Senior Services is committed to working closely with the 最新杏吧原创 County Health Department and other health partners to address the other concerns noted in this analysis,鈥� Terlizzi said.

Jennifer Smith of O鈥橣allon, Mo., said that changing the way information is collected from cancer patients was one goal of a Coldwater Creek Facebook group that has grown to more than 7,000 members who have reported thousands of cancers, autoimmune disorders and birth defects in their families.

Smith, 41, lived in Florissant from 1987 to 1996. She remembers the creek, which ran behind her backyard, periodically flooding the home鈥檚 basement and her bedroom when she was a teenager. When she was diagnosed with leukemia seven years ago, she was living in Nevada and is included in only that state鈥檚 cancer statistics.

鈥淚鈥檓 a perfect example of why that report is invalid,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淢y type of cancer you get from ionizing radiation. There鈥檚 just no doubt in my mind that (the creek) is where it came from and other people have been affected. My goal is using the numbers in our favor to help let officials know that we鈥檙e not going anywhere, and we want answers.鈥�

Colditz said Siteman Cancer Center researchers had focused on improving the screening and prevention programs for breast and colon cancers where the risk is higher in north 最新杏吧原创 city and county. He said the residents鈥� concerns about Coldwater Creek could inspire further research, particularly on the 22 appendix cancer cases reported on the Facebook page.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a rare cancer, and this number is bigger than one would expect,鈥� Colditz said.

Coldwater Creek, which starts in St. Ann near the airport and runs to the Missouri River through Florissant, Black Jack and Spanish Lake, was contaminated with uranium, thorium and radium starting in the 1940s when nuclear waste from the production of atomic bomb materials in 最新杏吧原创 was dumped near the airport after World War II and through the 1970s. Cleanup of the creek and the nearby nuclear waste sites is overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers and is thought to be virtually complete. The engineers will test water and soil samples from the creek this year, and that data will be analyzed for any health risk, according to the state report.

At least two groups of people who lived in north 最新杏吧原创 County during the time the creek was contaminated have filed federal lawsuits against Mallinckrodt Inc. and other corporations involved in the manufacture and disposal of the nuclear waste.

Suspected cancer clusters are notoriously difficult for scientists to investigate because of the complexity of the disease and the vast scope of such a project. Thousands of potential clusters are reported to health departments across the country each year. Investigators rarely pinpoint a cause for any areas that are found to have higher than average cancer rates.

Current and former residents of north 最新杏吧原创 County say they hope the government will assign a 鈥渄ownwinder鈥� status to the people who grew up in ZIP codes surrounding the nuclear waste sites. The term refers to people with several different forms of cancer, including brain, breast and lung tumors, who lived in areas of Utah, Nevada and Arizona during atomic bomb testing and now qualify for medical assistance.

鈥淵ou want to think that something good can come of this,鈥� said Kim Visintine, a 1987 graduate of McCluer North High School. 鈥淲e鈥檙e fighting for future generations.鈥�