Lawmaker plans hearings on rash of childhood leukemia cases

Brendan Riley

Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2001 | 10:14 a.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - A key state lawmaker said Monday that she will hold hearings in February to help find explanations for a cluster of nine childhood leukemia cases in the small Nevada town she represents.

"There's a lot of scared people out there. We need to move on this as soon as possible," said Assemblywoman Marcia de Braga, D-Fallon, chairwoman of the Assembly Natural Resources, Agriculture and Mining Committee.

"I hope to get experts together, to see if by sharing resources we can better and more quickly find out if there's a common cause or an environmental cause."

De Braga commented after state health officer Dr. Mary Guinan, said last week that the only apparent link between the nine young leukemia victims is that they or their parents lived in recent years in Fallon.

Guinan also said health officials are turning to outside experts for help on the leukemia cases in the agricultural and Navy town of about 8,300 residents, 60 miles east of here.

De Braga said her committee's review wouldn't conflict with the state's efforts, adding, "By bringing everybody together, maybe we can speed up the process."

The legislator also said the committee hearings could help to generate more funds for the state Health Division, which doesn't have a large staff to analyze the leukemia cases.

Guinan said she'd welcome the legislative hearings. "The more interest, the better," she added.

The nine young leukemia victims range from a toddler to a 19-year-old. Normally, the rate of such cases would be about three in every 100,000 people.

Acute lymphocytic leukemia or ADD - the most common form of childhood leukemia - destroys bone marrow. While its cause is unknown, suspected triggers include radiation exposure, electromagnetic fields or volatile organic compounds such as benzene, solvents and fossil fuels.

Guinan said concern about the Fallon cases has resulted in some "conspiracy theories," but none of the theories has been substantiated.

Fallon is under a federal Environmental Protection Agency order to reduce the city water's arsenic level, which is double the permitted national standard.

While Guinan said water sources differ for each of the affected families, de Braga said more research on the water issue is warranted.

"My intent is not to prove a link to arsenic," she added. "I just want to find out if there is an environmental cause."

There's also concern about federal testing of nuclear weapons that occurred near Fallon in the 1950s. But Guinan said repeated tests for radioactive substances in the area's water sources have been negative.

Pilots training at the Fallon Naval Air Station sometimes dump fuel over empty desert areas in emergencies. But Guinan said that's not a potential source that can be linked to the victims.

In the search for clues, state epidemiologist Randall Todd even reviewed the scientific studies on ADD in Woburn, Mass., the basis for the book and film, "A Civil Action." The Massachusetts case is associated with pregnant women drinking water from two contaminated wells.