It is the type of scientific evidence both regular folks and activists have long suspected was there. That is, in East Harris County, along the San Jacinto River, the rate of numerous kinds of common and rare cancers is alarmingly high.
"We knew it was bad, but I didn't expect it to be this bad," said Jackie Young of the San Jacinto River Coalition.
The long awaited study by the Department of State Health Services analyzed 18 years of cancer data.
Particularly frightening are elevated cancer rates among children. Lymphoma, retinoblastoma, melanoma and glioma -a dangerous rap sheet of disease striking the young at greater than expected levels.
"It's incredibly alarming and scary when you have a small town and you have multiple children dying or losing their vision from rare forms of cancer," said Young.
While the state assessment did not seek to determine cause, East Harris County has been home to decades of heavy industry and a notorious super fund site crammed with Dioxin known as the San Jacinto River Waste Pits.
"Obviously there is something out there that is causing children and people of all ages to develop cancers in high rates," said Young who has strongly campaigned for complete removal of the toxic dump.
At Memorial Hermann Hospital, UTHealth oncolgist Dr. Putao Cen says the newly identified cancer clusters demand more study.
In the meantime, for the residents of East Harris County she advises additional cancer prevention vigilance.
"At the same time we need to have regular checkups, routine cancer screening and get immunized, vaccination," said Cen.
Link to full assessment:
http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/epitox/CancerClusters/East-Harris-County-2015.pdf.
Assessment Finds Elevated Cancer Rates in Parts of Eastern Harris County
Expert review to determine if further study is recommended
The Texas Department of State Health Services today released an assessment showing more cases of certain types of cancer than expected in parts of eastern Harris County compared with the rest of the state. The assessment, conducted in response to community concerns, looks at reported cases of cancer and does not attempt to determine possible causes.
The most notable findings include a greater-than-expected incidence of childhood glioma in one census tract, a greater-than-expected incidence of childhood melanoma in another census tract and a greater-than-expected incidence of childhood retinoblastoma in two census tracts. While these cancers are rare and few total cases were identified, the analysis determined that these findings are significant enough to warrant a discussion of whether additional study is feasible.
The assessment also found more cases than expected of childhood lymphoma and melanoma, more cases than expected of brain and cervical cancer, and fewer cases than expected of thyroid cancer in the area as a whole. In performing the assessment, DSHS epidemiologists followed guidelines created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. They evaluated 17 different types of cancer in 38 census tracts and the area as a whole, comparing the actual number of cases to the number expected given the population. This is step two in a possible four-step process for evaluating concerns about areas where there may be an elevated incidence of cancer. The first step was gathering and responding to community concerns.
In the next step, DSHS will consult with a group of internal and external experts in cancer, epidemiology, toxicology and environmental issues to evaluate whether a follow-up epidemiologic study is both feasible and recommended. A member of the community will be included to represent the community's interests. Among other considerations, the group will discuss whether a study would be able to associate the cancers occurring at higher rates with specific risk factors.
DSHS has conducted more than 400 cancer cluster investigations since 2000. The agency's Texas Cancer Registry has more than 2 million records of cancer patients. It is the primary source of Texas cancer data and is the fourth-largest registry in the U.S. The Texas Cancer Registry was authorized by the Texas Legislature in 1989.
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