$5.5M for tri-county cancer study approved

Times Leader staff

Congress has approved $5.5 million in funding to study a cancer cluster in the Luzerne-Carbon-Schuylkill tri-county region, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter announced on Wednesday.

“I am pleased that Congress has approved this funding to study the higher than usual incidence of the blood disease in this area. The community is very concerned about the problem, and they’re entitled to the best answers science can give them,” Specter said in a press release.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will receive $5 million to conduct assessments of Polycythemia Vera trends and associated risk factors – including environmental risk factors – in the cancer cluster areas or in areas where potential environmental risks might exist.

The money can also be used to evaluate ways to improve the reporting of Polycythemia Vera and other blood cancers to cancer registries.

Additionally, Drexel University’s School of Public Health will get $499,000 to conduct studies on the blood disease.

Specter has been a longtime advocate for federal support to examine the cancer cluster in the tri-county area, where many people attribute the cluster to contamination at a federal Superfund site.

He participated in an October 2006 announcement of an initial study, which concluded that a cancer cluster existed.

In October 2008, Specter convened a hearing in Hazleton with community members and officials involved in the initial study to press health officials for answers.

He vowed that his office would work on “a battle plan” with federal and state health officials to find answers that he hopes will prevent further development of the disease in the area.