Fallon could become model for studying cancer clusters

Friday, April 13, 2001 | 11:20 a.m.

FALLON -- A probe into what might have led to a dozen cases of childhood leukemia in Fallon, a farming and military town 60 miles east of Reno, could help officials fashion a blueprint for future investigations into cases of chronic disease that occur throughout the country, senators said after a four-hour field hearing Thursday.

The children stricken with leukemia lived in Fallon for some part of their lives, but medical investigators have not found a common environmental link, whether it be exposure to toxins in the air, water or soil.

Fallon's cluster of acute lymphocytic leukemia is not unique, medical experts said.

Staff and funding restrictions prevent Nevada from effectively tracking such diseases as childhood cancer or aplastic anemia, state health officer Dr. Mary Guinan told Sens. Harry Reid of Nevada and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, both Democrats, and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.

The national plan for tracking disease is not much better. There is no national cancer list, no information is shared among federal, state and local agencies and no coordination exists among health professionals at hospitals and outpatient clinics, medical experts said.

Reid and Clinton said they shared a common interest in investigating environmental causes of cancer and chronic diseases. In Elmira, N.Y., one high school has reported 40 cancer cases, Clinton said.

"Maybe we've got the makings of a Reid-Ensign-Clinton public health bill that will be co-sponsored by Mr. Gibbons in the House," Clinton said.

Reid said he would seek funding for expanded environmental testing. He said that no possible toxic avenue had been ruled out as a cause of the Fallon cancers.

The senator questioned Navy officials extensively. Rear Adm. Richard Naughton during the past five years has reviewed jet fighter pilot training at the Naval Air Station in Fallon.

Naughton said the base uses about 10 million gallons of jet fuel -- most of it kerosene -- each year. That amount is half the jet fuel stored and used at Reno's International Airport. The admiral said there are 208 wells on the base to help monitor shallow ground water, and no contamination has been recorded. But the admiral did not report previous incidents more than 10 years old.

"I thought they should have fessed up to what went on there years ago," Reid said, referring to a spill in 1990 that could have included up to 30,000 gallons.

Before a national approach to tracking diseases begins, however, much work must first be done at local sites, such as Fallon, Guinan said.

The Nevada Cancer Registry is not certified and does not meet minimal national standards for reporting cases of the disease. If a cancer patient is hospitalized, the case will be reported if the institution pays a fee. Anyone seen at an outpatient clinic is not reported to the registry and might not join the list for years.

Zachery Beardsley, 5, was born perfectly healthy, said his mother Tammi. His leukemia was diagnosed more than a year ago. Zachery attended the hearing in his mother's arms. His head, once covered with blonde hair, is now covered with stubble, a result of the chemotherapy.

"I am talking to you from the heart," Tammi Beardsley said. "We have to take a look at our home, the way we treat our planet. If we don't we are going to have more sick children."

What caught the attention of many experts regarding Fallon is the number of children affected in a town with a population of just 8,300, said Dr. Henry Falk of the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry. "In this case, it is so striking," he said.

Dr. Stephen Prescott, who heads the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, said researchers are unraveling the mystery of how a single cell becomes cancerous. Tissue and blood samples need to be taken from Fallon's child victims in an attempt to search for a common gene, he said.

"It's dramatic," Prescott said of the Fallon cancer cluster. "It's a big one."

A national cancer registry for children is in its fledgling stage after the National Institutes of Health completed the first cursory review of possible toxins -- such as lead and arsenic -- this year, said Shelly Hearne, Trust for America's Health executive director.

The federal government needs to pump enough money into chronic disease research to begin tracking environmental factors as root causes of many illnesses, said Hearne, who called for a chronic disease investigator in every state, at a cost of about $275 million.

"This is not rocket science," Hearne said. "This is what public health officials did with infectious diseases over a century ago."

In addition, there is no national repository available for scientists working at the federal, state and local levels to compare common elements among disease clusters, such as Fallon's.

President Bush has proposed a 25 percent cut in federal funding for chronic disease research, Hearne said. "There will be many more Fallons, and perhaps that is the greatest challenge."

Assemblywoman Marcia De Braga, D-Fallon, said the Legislature has approved $500,000 for expanding research in Fallon using money from resort taxes. "It's a start," she said.