High arsenic, tungsten levels found in Fallon

Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2002 | 9:41 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

FALLON -- Unusually high levels of arsenic and tungsten were found in residents of this small agricultural and military town hit by an epidemic of childhood leukemia, federal scientists reported Tuesday.

But scientists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there's no known correlation between high levels of the minerals and acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL, which has killed three people with ties to Fallon and sickened 13 others since 1997.

Dr. Carol Rubin of the CDC said the testing of families hit by ALL and the general population showed eight out of 10 had abnormally high levels of tungsten. The national average is one out of 10.

The testing also showed that a third of the area's population had arsenic levels above 50 parts per billion. That's considered a level that could cause a wide range of health problems.

Arsenic occurs naturally in the Fallon area, about 60 miles southeast of Reno. Tungsten, used to strengthen steel, was mined for years here, although the mines are shut down now.

Rubin said studies have shown a link between arsenic and some adult cancers, but no tie with ALL. She added that there have been no studies on possible links between tungsten and acute lymphocytic leukemia.

The CDC has petitioned the National Toxicology Program to conduct toxicological testing of tungsten to determine if there is a potential link to human cancers.

While the CDC's information doesn't give area residents answers in their search for a cause of the leukemia outbreak, state Epidemiologist Randall Todd said the information opens a new area of inquiry.

"This was on nobody's radar screen as something to consider," he said of the tungsten finding. "This opens a door to another room that we didn't know existed.

"The investigation is like doing a jigsaw puzzle -- but we lost the box and don't know what the picture looks like," Todd added. "Now we have an interesting piece -- but it's still puzzling."

Health officials have said that given an average rate of ALL, they would expect to see about one case every five years in Fallon and Churchill County, based on the area's population.

Officials suspect an environmental cause for the leukemia cluster in the community, which is home to Fallon Naval Air Station, where the Navy maintains its elite "Top Gun" fighter pilot school.

The CDC collected more than 1,000 samples of blood, saliva and urine from from the Fallon patients, their families and control group families in a search for a cause.

Pollution data, a jet fuel pipeline to the military base and well water are among the areas under study.

For decades Fallon's municipal water supply has contained naturally occurring arsenic at 100 parts per billion, 10 times the federal standard of 10 ppb.

The city is building a new water treatment plant to meet the new standards, though completion is not expected until early 2004.