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More tests urged for Fallon

Brendan Riley

Thursday, Feb. 15, 2001 | 11:47 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Lawmakers who held three days of hearings into 11 recent cases of childhood leukemia linked to Fallon will push for more medical and environmental tests to pinpoint a cause.

Assemblywoman Marcia de Braga, D-Fallon, said at the end of the hearings Wednesday that she'll recommend tissue and blood testing of the victims, along with ground and air tests in the Fallon area.

De Braga chairs the Assembly Natural Resources, Agriculture and Mining Committee that conducted the hearings, amassing testimony from scientists, doctors, local, state and federal politicians, and the mother of one of the victims.

The panel will formalize its recommendations next week, and de Braga said her suggestions for more testing will be included given the often-conflicting comments regarding the strange cluster of acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL, cases.

"Even the most expert experts didn't agree," de Braga said. But she added the attention on the ALL cases in the small Navy and farming town ensures "that we'll find a cause -- if one exists."

ALL -- the most common form of childhood leukemia -- destroys bone marrow.

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