When a small group of students gathered at the gates of Canal Electric Co. this month to protest high emissions from the Sandwich power plant, it was exactly what Joel Feigenbaum says is needed: more attention to pollutants that may be the cause of the extraordinarily high lung cancer rates among women on the Upper Cape.
According to recent numbers calculated by Feigenbaum, the lung cancer rates in this group of people continue to remain high--a trend that goes back almost three decades--even as the numbers of some other forms of cancer appear to be leveling off.
Feigenbaum says there are a number of possible sources of the high lung cancer rate, including airborne particles from fuel burning at Canal Electric, pollutants from the Massachusetts Military Reservation and engine exhaust at the airports on the base and in Hyannis.
But while the exact sources of the problem are unknown, the numbers remain consistent.
Feigenbaum, a professor of mathematics at Cape Cod Community College who has been tracking cancer rates for more than a decade, recently compiled figures from the state Department of Public Health's Cancer Registry. Those numbers show the female lung cancer rate on the Upper Cape for 1993-94-- the most recent data available--is 27 percent higher than the state average. It's just under the state average for men.
The state numbers indicate that during those two years there should have been 90.7 cases of female lung cancer in the communities of Barnstable, Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee and Sandwich. However, 115 cases were observed. In men 141.6 cases were expected, and 140 were observed.
For the state-defined Lower Cape--Yarmouth through Provincetown--the lung cancer rate for women in those years was 6 percent higher than the state average, while the rate for men was 11 percent lower.
In these 10 towns, state data indicate that 88.8 cases of female lung cancer were expected and 94 cases were observed. For men, 132.9 were expected and 118 were observed.
The numbers expected by the state are determined by taking the number of cancer cases found statewide and applying it to particular communities, adjusting the rates for the age of the population.
STATE AGREES CANCER RATE IS HIGH Numbers for individual towns show huge differences, but sometimes those were caused by the low number of cases, Feigenbaum said. For example, Mashpee statistically has a lower lung cancer rate, while Wellfleet has a high rate. However, Mashpee has only four cases of female lung cancer and Wellfleet only three.
Feigenbaum said that while the lung cancer rates in Upper Cape women dropped somewhat between 1987 adn 1994 there still is cause for concern. The rate was 44 percent above the state average between 1987 adn 1992. That number dropped to 38 percent above average when the 1993-94 cases were factored in.
Robert Knorr, an epidemiologist with the health department who has been working on the Upper Cape cancer rates, said there is no question that the rate of female lung cancer is high in that area.
It is clear, undisputed, statistically significant, and something we've got to follow up on" Knorr said. "they've always been elevated since we've been looking at them, and they're still elevated."
Female lung cancer rates on the Upper Cape have been high since 1959, when the state first began collecting mortality data. Between 1969 and 1983, Upper Cape women died of lung cancer at an age-adjusted rate of 33 percent above state averages, compared with 1 percent higher for men.
A boston University study in 1990 found high levels of lung and breast cancer on the Upper Cape, a factor in forcing the military to stop burning excess artillery propellants at the Massachusetts Military Reservation.
CAPE CANCER RATES BEING PROBED In an effort to solve the cancer mystery, a group that includes state and federal regulators, local residents and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, or ATSDR, are investigating cancer rates on the Cape, including lung cancer.
That includes a study by Louise Ryan and Joel Schwartz of Harvard University, who are trying to develop a tracking system to map the lung cancer rates on the Upper Cape. The ATSDR group hopes to get a report from the Harvard researchers on July 27.
Knorr, also a member of the ATSDR panel, said the goal of the Harvard study is to find out where the "hot spots" of cases are, and then help determine what is located in those areas that could be causing the lung cancer.
Feigenbaum fears the high level of female lung cancer on Cape Cod is not getting enough attention from health officials. Millions of dollards are being spent to investigate breast cancer rates on Cape Cod, and a lot of attention is being put on prostate cacner in the area.
Feigenbaum said his numbers show the breast and prostate cancer rates Capewide are leveling off, a notion disputed by the state health department and the Silent Spring Institute in Newton, which was hired by the state to look at the breast cancer issue on the Cape. Both say Capewide breast cancer rates are about 20 percent higher than state averages.
The health department also calculated that prostate cancer rates on the Upper Caper were 20 percent and 42 percent higher for the Upper Cape in 1993 and 1994, respectively.
However, Feigenbaum, said his calcualtions show that breast cancer is 4 percent below state averages on the Upper Cape and 7 percent higher on the Lower Cape. Prostate cancer for both areas is 15 percent higher, according to his numbers, a dramatic decrease in the rates of 48 percent and 36 percent higher in the Upper and Lower Cape regions, respectively, between 1987 and 1992.
Comments on this posting?
Click here to post a public comment on the Trash Talk Bulletin Board.
Click here to send a private comment to the Junkman.
Copyright © 1998 Steven J. Milloy. All rights reserved on original material. Material copyrighted by others is used either with permission or under a claim of "fair use." Site developed and hosted by WestLake Solutions, Inc.
Material presented on this home page constitutes opinion of Steven J. Milloy.