If I told you that I knew how to find the cause of childhood leukemia, you might think I was either a genius or Erin Brockovich. If I further told you that we could attribute this cruel disease to products of multinational chemical corporations, companies that do millions of dollars of business with the U.S. Navy, or to underground nuclear tests, you might refer me to some eager lawyers.
Here's how we do it: scour the country, town by town, county by county, or geographical area by geographical area if necessary, until we find a place where there is a greater concentration of leukemia-afflicted children than the national average. As we know from the laws of averages, concocting this part of our cancer cluster bluster shouldn't take too long. Not finding a children's cancer "epidemic" somewhere would be as hard to do as rolling two dice and getting a total of exactly seven 100 times in a row.
Next, we go around the neighborhood, with the help of a local "investigative journalist," and find out which chemicals are used by the deep-pocketed corporations (which are also employers, but think of them more as thieves). It is as simple as that! We now know what the top scientists at the world's top research facilities weren't able to figure out, even with their abundant resources and fancy labs: which chemicals in the environment are responsible for killing the children. What a great approach! As a matter of fact, up until last month, this was pretty much the story of Fallon, NV, where sixteen children, well above the national average, got leukemia since 1997.
There is just one problem. According to a February 24 article by the Associated Press, several major "studies turned up no link to high levels of naturally occurring arsenic in Fallon's water supply, a pipeline carrying jet fuel to the Navy base, local pesticide spraying, high tungsten levels, or an underground nuclear test conducted thirty miles away about forty years ago." So much for my Nobel Prize in medicine!
This latest report is just another in a growing catalogue of studies that debunks these (alleged) environmental causes of (alleged) cancer clusters. And this catalogue makes the old Sears one look slim by comparison. The list goes back for decades. As the AP points out: "During the 1960s and 70s, the CDC investigated 108 cancer clusters around the United States, most of them childhood leukemia. In the end, they found no link..."
But perhaps what makes this story most interesting, is that like "victims groups" in other alleged clusters, the activists in Fallon were furious that the scientists' exhaustive, comprehensive, and costly studies did not pin the blame on any environmental factor (or potential defendant!). Now certainly, it is understandable that parents of children who got sick, as well as other people caught up in the cluster story, might have felt a sense of relief if they were able to pinpoint, and thus eliminate, whatever got the kids sick. As a matter of fact, allegations that some environmental factor is to blame always give these true victims something to hope for. But activists will continue to dangle false hope before vulnerable people time and time again, even though we know full well — thanks to more than four decades and millions of dollars in studies — that sooner or later, science will prevail and remind us that there is no evidence of a link between so-called "clusters" and exposure to trace environmental chemicals.
Jeff Stier, Esq., is an Associate Director of the American Council on Science and Health.
