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Show WASATCH COUNTY COURIER Bs SAAS NER La INET eg BS RRO SE a echgat a ii i ti sit te canst averaged, but Peterson Said. Wasatch rates are : not evident because they are “too little.” She said. some leukemia _ patients might not be registered because often ‘they are not admitted to a hospital for treatment. “Tt really scews our records if they entrepreneur—con- CML 1si a rare cancer; the national average is lin 100, 000. The Courier found seven in the last five years in the county’s population tain soil contaminated __ by the area’s mines and show elevated levels of metal, solids and sulfate levels, accord- ing to the Utah Division of Water Quality Groundwater Protection Dennis Local Manager Frederick. and state offi- cials have pleaded with of approximately Bogerd to clean up and are not reported,” cap the toxic ponds, Peterson. says. “I 13, 600 — 50 times but he has failed to. haven’t heard anybegin remediation — the national rate. body had a big conefforts. — cern. ‘The _ state Midway’s Steve would have moved in earlier if ae Farrel was diagnosed with CLL less ed. It does sound interesting if it’s than five years ago. His father was a -. true.” CLL victim. He says doctors are conBrady Hales. a Midway CML cerned because the cancer usually patient, is outraged at the numbers. afflicts an older population. F arrel i is 54 Like Law, he said he can’t walk a block years old. without coming across a cancer Valene Jensen’s husband, Larry, patient’s home. The Courier detailed died last year after a seven-year bout the 41-year-old’s involvement in the with CLL. He was 62. clinical trials of a new drug known as “Almost every house has been -STI571 last November. affected. Too many people in Midway “Of 12 houses near me, five havea have cancer or have died from cancer. form of cancer. What is going on? If it’s You can’t walk down a main street something somebody did, make them without noticing this house, this house stop. The State Health Department and this house. It blows me away how report on Wasatch County. says, ‘all is many people in my ward alone,” says © well in Zion’ —it’s bull,” pS Hales, Valene, listing nine cancer victims near “diagnosed ‘early in1999.“her home’ “You" think “you'ré “going * The State Health Deparment | | | 3 | | , © ceptible to fallout from Nevada’s atomic tests— and occasionally worked asa uranium prospector. Statewide, only about 50 esicna deaths have been attributed to fallout © from hundreds of tests in the 1950s _ | _ - and 1960s, according to a 1990 study commissioned by the National Cancer Institute and involving University of— Utah scientists. é One Midway resident, who wishes to remain anonymous and does not want his statement recorded as “scientific fact” said he and his father would record radiation levels with a uranium Geiger counter when it rained follow- — ing the Nevada tests. He said the levels were very elevated—“hotter than the day is long.” Varlin Law cheer every moment he can spend with his family, but said he will never be the man he once was.“I’ve gone over it a thousand times. I think they’re afraid of some kind of panic,” Law says. “If there’s a problem, let’s address it. It doesn’t change the fact that this i isa wonderful - community. Just so no one else has to suffer, I'm there, heart and soul.” 0 ede a tone | average is 1 in 100,000. The Courier found seven in the last five years in the county’s population of approximately ' over time or is susShawn, says there 13,600—fifty times the national rate. - tained. You can find fluc- me, five have a forme of is no cancer in his _ Wasatch cancer patients’ names are _tuation in a small comfamily history. not printed, unless permission was munity because of popucancer. The State fe IES going granted, to protect privacy. University lation changes,” says through the whole of Utah Cancer Registry and Utah Keller, who utilizes data Health Department county—just as Health Department records only have from the local cancer ae much or more in two CML patients from those years on registry. “Based on your report on Wasatch Heber as Midway,” record. The incidence cases and avernumbers, we need to _, Uns zy, says | Marie age annual age-adjusted rates are per determine — whether County says, ‘all is well Epperson, — a 100,000 residents. Some of the additional <9 4. , = «,. ‘99 Midway resident “It is troubling. All of the sudden cases were missed 4% Zion’ —tt’s bull, who was diagnosed you might have two [CML patients] in somehow.” ed ) | with CML last year. 0 years, which raises eyebrows but — The National Cancer | BRADY HALES - Phil Wright is 't out of the ordinary. We have to Institute’s report on ~ MIDWAY CML PATIENT aptly -concerned. see if rates are accurately reflected,” Wasatch County inci| He has reviewed said Dr. Charles Wiggins, a registry dence rates match the the state’s report, Epidemiologist. “If we’ve miscounted State’s. and says Keller will meet with county them in the county, we’ve missed them Wasatch Health Director Phil Wright health officials to discuss the findings. everywhere.” requested the study last fall. State toxiHe says he will investigate the cancer The Huntsman Cancer Institute, cologist Dr. Wayne Ball says Keller’s registry for patient names given to him University of Utah, Salt Lake Clinic study does not show elevated levels of _by the Courier. Wright says one out of and Provo’s University Hospital all are contamination from mining or tailings. three people will contract a form of currently treating Wasatch leukemia “We cannot tell you cause and _ cancer during their lifetime. _ patients. Numbers cannot be comeffect from the studies we do. “We'd want to find whether thereisa pared due to psa patient confiGenerally, environmental factors only break-down in the reporting system. I dentiality. account for about 5 percent of cancers. F just don’t know how far as a health In addition, there are two CLL People want to attribute more,” says department to delve into the private ‘(chronic lymphoid leukemia) victims, Ball. “Midway is a pretty pristine place. lives of people unless they come to us. three with brain tumors, two with thyIt depends on occupational exposure, We try to rely on the professionals, zs roid cancer, one prostate cancer vicand look at occupations 20 years ago. says Wright. “But I’ve seen the same tim, one with lung cancer and at least Farmers deal with a lot of chemicals. thing. I can stand at my zie door and four with non-confirmed cancers. Trying to trace down individual causes “see one, two, three, at least four cases Three Midway women who live on the is almost impossible for most cancers. over a period of years. My next-door same block have breast cancer. , We will work with Phil Wright. Each of | neighbor just died, and Ryan was one of The American Cancer Ste these is a tragedy on their own. You my scouts. I sat next to a cancer patient Director of Cancer Control, Marion have to reduce the numbers.” | at a ball game recently. But, in the valley, Peterson, said records show Wasatch “This area has tailings that haven’t has 35 annual new cases combining all been cleaned up,” Hales says, refercancers, averaged annually in a fourring to the Mayflower tailings near — _ year period. She said five are breast, Jordanelle Reservoir. “People are buyfive prostate, five colon/rectum, less ing million-dollar lots have no idea than five are lung and melanomas and toxic waste ponds are next to them.” 12 are classified as “other.” Utah has Last fall, the Courier revealed the 5,785 patients, and the nation has 1.2 Environmental Protection Agency is million. : considering the Mayflower tailings The society states es are 200 ponds as a superfund site. The ponds, combined leukemia patients in Utah, | owned by Arie Bogerd—a Dutch searching for a common denominator. They believe the link is the ground on > which they live. Hales, Law and Jensen ace built or assisted in the construction and land-. scaping of their Midway homes on former dairy land and pastures. Farrel built a home on his land in 1976. Brisk lived in Heber, although his grandmother resided in Midway. Prior to living in Midway, Jensen was raised in Emory and Carbon County—both sus- od what’s actual.” CML is a rare cancer: the: national Hales and Law both say they've investigated CML rates in Midway,. PRS ym tiene oo se OKe — sie eps “My understanding is there’s quite a discrepancy with what’s Tecorded and A live a healthy lifestyle, ” says changes in a second.” Valene Jensen says she has = Fhe : off the beautiful hair of three women in | unusual. It is common to see some elethe Midway First Ward who have breast vated rates for a time period. The next: — cancer. The four women are neighbors. time period, they could drop, so you Ryan Brisk, a vivacious 20-year-old, could consider it clustering, but can’t died in 1999 after a severe, threereally tie it to anything month fight against unless it is increasing “Of twelve houses near CML. His brother, mal. NC County cancer ‘incidence rates are nor- — we have no major businesses producing toxic chemicals. We've had the mining industry, but drinking water is routinely tested. If it’s higher than anticipated, we'll have to see what we can do.” | OR or CONTINUED FROM Ad along pretty well and the rug’s pulled out from under you. Your whole life SNERREITMN y A RORY NC recente released a report, compiled by Karen Keller, that claims Wasatch en Gitee, | PD Eitee tne, CANCER A5 a FEBRUARY 21, 2001 |