"Cancer cluster" in Northwest Missouri?

[Duncan Grant]

Tumor talk begs for answers
<snip>
CAMERON, Mo. — About 200 people showed up to talk to Missouri officials Thursday night to see what’s causing a high number of brain tumors in their town.

A definitive number of cases hasn’t been determined, but Missouri Rep. Jim Guest, R-King City, has said the number is at least 12.

The Department of Health and Senior Services didn’t want to provide any estimates Thursday on the number of tumor cases. Reluctantly, Dennis Spurling, a health official, said he’d estimate the number of people who’ve registered their cancer diagnosis to be in the low 20s.

Mr. Guest said the norm for brain tumors is one per 10,000 people.

“I’m concerned about the ‘42’ tumor cases I’ve heard about,” said Todd Nicholas, a Cameron resident.
<snip>

http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2008/jun/27/tumor-talk-begs-answers/

[Duncan Grant]

1. Update: Cause of tumors unknown

<snip>

Soil, water tests give no clues
Rash of tumors still puzzles Cameron community

CAMERON, Mo. — Many of the more than 200 people who gathered Thursday evening didn’t like state officials’ news that there’s still no answer to two of the community’s big questions: What’s causing brain tumors here? Are there more brain tumors here than normal?

Soil and water testing from areas including the drinking water supply and the site of the former Rockwool Industries insulation plant have shown no health threats, officials said.

Officials with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Senior Services and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry presented these most recent findings in the Cameron area brain tumor investigation. The meeting was in the Cameron United Methodist Church.

Residents who spoke during the meeting questioned the thoroughness of the officials’ investigation and emphasized that more studies need to be done.

<snip>

http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2008/aug/22/soil-water-tests-give-no-clues/

[NoFederales]

2. One of my college buddies is from Cameron; I need to check in on this. You

can bet that if Missouri DNR is fielding/parrying questions, then lies are flying. Water and Resource activists are sick of this DNR and Republican State Government.

NoFederales

[Duncan Grant]

5. Any news you can share?

I'm waiting for this to crack wide open.

Thanks! :hi:

[Duncan Grant]

3. Update: Erin Brockovich now consulting with Cameron residents.

6 File Lawsuits Over Tumors
<snip>
“We don’t want them to quit testing. We don’t just want them to sweep it under the rug ‘cause the tumors keep comin’,” she said. “We don’t want these state people to give up hope. If they give up hope, our hope goes with it.”

Ms. Helms is represented by attorney Grant Davis — a Kansas City attorney who contacted the Helms and others. During a community meeting last week with state officials, several attorneys handed out business cards to residents.

The Cameron investigation has even attracted nationally known attorney Erin Brockovich. Cameron residents, including Bill Kemper, have been in contact with her and her staff.

Mr. Kemper, whose wife died of complications related to a brain tumor, recently talked with one of Ms. Brockovich’s environmentalists after he e-mailed Ms. Brockovich. The environmentalist, Jim Drury, asked Mr. Kemper for more information about the tumor cases and said he thought Cameron’s situation was alarming.
<snip>


http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2008/aug/28/6-file-lawsuits-over-tumors/

[Duncan Grant]

4. Brockovich joins probe into tumors (October 28, 2008)

CAMERON, Mo. — Famed environmental activist Erin Brockovich formally became involved Monday in efforts to uncover a cause for brain tumors plaguing several Northwest Missouri counties.

Ms. Brockovich — the subject of 2000’s movie of the same name starring actress Julia Roberts — spoke to several hundred people gathered at Cameron High School. She is already pledging to begin her own tests and databases on soil, water, air and other factors in the area such as the former Rockwool plant. She plans returns to update residents on her investigation.

“I’m here to investigate and to begin to try and find out what’s going on in this community,” she said.

Her interest in the brain tumor cases was sparked by a stream of e-mails from patients. “Anytime that happens, that’s a flag to me that something’s going on,” Ms. Brockovich said.

The information has come not only from the Cameron area, she said, but also from people living in other states who had prior local ties.

More...

[usregimechange]

7. I was about to post that they needed her and I find that she is already there

[KewlKat]

6. I thought I'd provide an update to this investigation

This link is Part 1. I've not found part 2 yet and now it wants me to register to read.......Note from the editor: Having an existing interest in the investigations in Cameron, Mo., Kelley Kates chose the topic for a research project in an Environmental Science class she completed last semester.

Kates is a pre-law student in her senior year at UMKC.

University News corresponded with Kates about this case during the fall semester.





http://media.www.unews.com/media/storage/paper274/news/2009/01/12/News/A.Search.For.LifeSaving.Answers.Part.I.Investigations.Seek.Cause.Of.Cameron.Tum-3583822.shtml

[Duncan Grant]

8. Thanks for that link!

:thumbsup:

[Duncan Grant]

9. EPA Back In Cameron For More Testing

CAMERON, Mo. -- The Environmental Protection Agency was back in Cameron on Tuesday to do more soil testing.

The testing is part of an ongoing investigation into what caused a series of brain tumors in the area.

The EPA was digging on the east side of the former Rockwool plant, where insulation was once manufactured.

Officials started digging at the plant after utility workers reported a gray sludge while installing a line at a nearby electrical substation.

"We'll analyze the samples I collected today to determine whether any hazardous substances are present -- (checking if) there is any potential release to the soil, to the groundwater from that material," the EPA's Don Lininger said.

A great archive of stories can be found along with this update at KMBC (Channel 9 - ABC).

[Duncan Grant]

10. Rockwool getting another EPA visit: Erin Brockovich to present her findings Wednesday

Federal and state officials will return to a former Cameron industrial site next week to collect more samples for an ongoing investigation into the cause of brain tumors.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Missouri Department of Natural Resources will gather samples from the former Rockwool Industries site southwest of Cameron. Chris Whitley — a spokesman for the EPA’s regional office in Kansas City, Kan. — said the teams are scheduled to arrive at the site sometime in the mid- to late- morning hours next Monday.

Additional sampling will be conducted at a site where a gray sludge-like material was recovered in early March, Mr. Whitley said, “to better define” the area of its original recovery. The tests revealed the presence of about 30 compounds, most of which were not at levels of potential health concern. Lead and arsenic found in the samples do not pose a major health concern, according to the EPA.

Mr. Whitley also said samples will be taken from a new area on the Rockwool site, based on a report that a purple material may be buried there.

More at The St. Joseph News-Press.

[Duncan Grant]

11. Brockovich helps with lawsuit blaming tannery for Cameron brain tumors

The investigation into the cause of brain tumors near Cameron, Mo., took a new twist today when a lawsuit filed with the assistance of noted environmental activist Erin Brockovich accused a tannery of being at fault.

Sludge from Prime Tanning Corp., in St. Joseph contains high levels of hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen, the lawsuit filed in Clinton County alleged.

For years, farmers in at least four counties in northwest Missouri have gotten the sludge for free to use as an agriculture fertilizer for their crops, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed in Cameron in the Clinton County Circuit Court this morning by the Kansas City law firm of Wagstaff & Cartmell with the assistance of Thomas V. Girardi of Los Angeles, who was made famous by the Oscar-winning movie “Erin Brockovich.” Girardi is a partner in the law firm Girardi Keese.

More at The Kansas City Star.