Federal hearing will look at Fallon leukemia cases

Thursday, March 29, 2001 | 10:59 a.m.

A congressional committee has scheduled an April 12 to hold a hearing in Fallon on the dozen cases of childhood leukemia discovered there.

Members of the committee have not committed to attend the hearing, committee press secretary David Cherry said, but Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., has expressed interest in the issue, he said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the ranking minority member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has said federal funding may be available to conduct blood and tissue samples of the children and air, water and soil tests.

Assemblywoman Marcia De Braga, D-Fallon, also has requested $1 million from the state to begin testing for possible sources of the disease in the community 60 miles east of Reno.

Navy environmental experts, state health officer Dr. Mary Guinan, state epidemiologist Dr. Randall Todd and federal health researchers are expected to testify at the daylong hearing.

Speculation on a cause of the acute lymphocytic leukemias ranges from jet fuel at Fallon Naval Air Station to pesticides, even a bacteria or a virus introduced into the community.

As the dozen cases of the leukemia were confirmed, state medical experts warned that a cause of the cancer cluster may never be known.