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Barnett Shale and benzene |
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Written by http://www.flowermoundleader.com/articles/2010/01/23/flower_mound_leader/news/22.txt
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Thursday, 04 February 2010 |
“Benzene is hugely concerning,” Notley said. “And if you do something that puts something in the water table, you can’t ever fix it. So when we hear that there may be a cancer cluster in our zip code, who wants to hear that?”
State to investigate possible cancer cluster in Flower Mound By Chris Roark,
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Published: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 5:59 PM CST Officials at the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) are preparing to investigate parts of Flower Mound to see if the number of leukemia cases are higher than in other parts of the state.
This comes after concerns of a leukemia cancer cluster in zip codes 75022 and 75028.
Residents say that there are five children and two adults within the Wellington neighborhood alone who have been diagnosed with leukemia in the last few years.
“This investigation came about from concerns by residents in their community,” said Allison Lowery, spokesperson for the DSHS. “We listened to what they had to say and decided to investigate after that.”
Lowery said that anyone can request an investigation, but one is not always granted.
“(DSHS officials) thought there was legitimate concern based on what they were hearing,” Lowery said. “It was a case of us listening and taking their concerns seriously.”
Lowery said there isn’t a threshold number of cases required to perform an investigation, but she added that there has to be more than one case for an investigation to be considered.
Lowery said the DSHS performs the investigation by looking at data from 1998-2007. She said the DSHS is waiting for final 2007 data to be finalized, which is expected to be complete by the end of January. Analysis of that data is expected to be complete sometime in February.
Data from 2008-09 is only provisional at this point and is not used, she added. Officials will look at the number of cases in Flower Mound versus the statewide rates. If there is significant data to suggest Flower Mound’s cases are higher than the statewide rate, further investigation in Denton County could occur, Lowery said.
Later phases of the investigation, which would involve the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), would try to determine the cause of the leukemia.
According to the DSHS Web site, if the rates are evaluated and the initial evidence is compelling, the Texas Cancer Registry (TCR) will proceed to the final stage of an investigation and recommend a comprehensive study of the proposed potential disease-exposure relationship. The primary purpose would be to pursue the epidemiologic and public health issues that the cluster generated, not necessarily to investigate the specific cluster.
However, some Flower Mound residents have already voiced concern over a possible link between the air quality associated with gas drilling and leukemia.
“It’s been a concern for us since they proposed drilling in Flower Mound,” said resident Tom Notley, who lives on the opposite side of FM 2499 from Wellington. “The Barnett Shale is big enough that coming next to people’s houses doesn’t make sense.”
Notley, whose family has led an information push about the cancer cluster investigation, said the issue of air quality in the town of Dish, as well as a new development in Chico, Texas, about a spike in the level of uranium in the water, has concerned him.
“Benzene is hugely concerning,” Notley said. “And if you do something that puts something in the water table, you can’t ever fix it. So when we hear that there may be a cancer cluster in our zip code, who wants to hear that?”
In response to the investigation, the town issued a statement that addresses what the town is doing regarding the matter. A press release stated that town officials have met with officials from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on Dec. 18 to formally request TCEQ visit two air compression sites within Flower Mound to perform air quality testing. It is also pursuing options regarding placement of a permanent air quality monitoring station within the town.
“The safety of our residents is the most important responsibility we have as a council,” Mayor Jody Smith said. “And we are ready to work with the DSHS to assist them with anything they need. I believe Flower Mound is a safe place to live and raise a family, and I am encouraged to know DSHS expects the report to be completed soon.”
The DSHS site also stated that most state health departments, including Texas, have reported that fewer than five percent of cancer cluster investigations reach the final stage of actually conducting the comprehensive study.
Lowery said the 75022 zip code had a similar cluster investigation for thyroid in 2008 |