Fallon plays national role in cancer studies

Friday, April 13, 2001 | 10:53 a.m.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said this morning that the leukemia-stricken community of Fallon is playing a leading role in changing the way the nation detects and deals with chronic diseases.

"There's no easy overnight solution," Clinton said in an interview with the Sun. "We're going to have to do a better job of coordinating our national response."

Clinton made her comments from Henderson one day after attending an emotional Senate hearing on the mysterious cancer cluster that has struck children in Fallon, a small farming and military community in northwest Nevada.

The hearing was held by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Also participating were Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.

Reid, the Senate's assistant Democratic leader, plans to introduce a bill on Capitol Hill this year to establish a centralized system of investigating and monitoring cancer clusters and other chronic diseases.

"We have to do a better job of putting all of the information together ... so that we can see the meaning of it," Clinton told the Sun. "We have to put more resources behind collecting the information and analyzing it."

Clinton said a rapid response in such cases is critical.

"We do it with infectious diseases and natural disasters, but we don't have a similar response in place for chronic diseases like cancer," she said.

The junior senator from New York, in her first business trip outside her home state, said she was impressed with the way the residents of Fallon have been dealing with their well-publicized problem.

"I was very proud of the way the hearing was conducted and the way the community responded," she said. "I think it was an important event not only for Fallon, but the entire country.

"I came out of it with a very good sense of what we have to do congressionally."

Clinton, who traveled to Nevada with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, predicted more help was on the way for Fallon.

"Clearly, there's going to be more investigation -- federal and state task forces -- into what the possible causes for the cancers in Fallon might be," she said.

The former first lady said she appreciated the warm reception she got from Fallon residents. She received more applause during the hearing than Reid, Ensign and Gibbons.

"I felt very much at home," she said. "I wished I could have been there under better circumstances."

Clinton said she became interested in what was happening in Fallon because of a similar cancer cluster, invovling former high school students in Elmira, N.Y.

She said she eagerly accepted an invitation from Reid to participate in the hearing.

The Clintons have been staying with friends in Henderson during their trip. The former president, who made more than a half-dozen visits to Las Vegas during his eight years in office, stayed in Henderson while his wife traveled to Fallon.

Sen. Clinton said the couple planned to remain in Southern Nevada for another day or two.