The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

State News

Discussion

October 9, 2008

Missouri: No main cause found for tumors near town

The Associated Press

CAMERON, Mo. — A state investigation into a rise in brain tumor cases around Cameron found no central cause, a state epidemiologist said Thursday.

Sarah Patrick told about 150 people at a meeting in Cameron that the number of brain tumor cases in a four-county area around the northwest Missouri town is not statistically higher than the numbers throughout the state.

Brain tumor cases are increasing throughout Missouri and the nation, and Cameron is part of that trend, Patrick said.

Patrick said about 70 people in Caldwell, Clinton, Daviess and DeKalb counties met the scientific criteria used by the state during its cancer inquiry. That included 24 with benign tumors since Jan. 1, 2004, and 46 with malignant tumors in the last 11 1/2 years.

“If your perception is that you know more people with brain tumors, and it is changing over time, that perception is right,” Patrick said. “That is true nationally, too. Brain tumor reports are going up.”

The results came after a five-month state inquiry that began when people who had either been diagnosed or had a relative diagnosed with brain tumors contacted health officials and the news media about what they considered an abnormally high number of brain tumors in and around the northwest Missouri town of about 6,500.

The state expanded the investigation to include the four counties, with a total population of about 50,000.

Patrick also said the number of brain tumor cases in the four-county area was ranked 10th behind several other types, with lung cancer at the top of the list. Statewide, brain tumor reports ranked sixth.

The findings drew immediate skepticism from some Cameron residents who have been affected by a brain tumor diagnosis.

Catherine Frasher, whose husband, Jim, has been battling a benign brain tumor since January, said she expected the state to issue the no-cause report.

“I’m disappointed, I’m very disappointed, but I expected it,” Frasher said. “Because they’ve told us the same thing all summer: ‘There’s nothing here, there’s nothing happening.’ ... You can’t tell me that there’s not something significant going on here.”

Billy Kemper, whose wife, Karen, died this summer after battling a benign brain tumor, agreed with Frasher. The Kempers lived just two houses away from the Frashers; Karen Kemper and Jim Frasher both had benign tumors near their brain stems.

“They never answered the question,” Kemper said. “Is there a cluster? They won’t say. We’ve just got too many brain tumors here. I don’t believe that, I don’t believe it all. When her mouth was moving, I didn’t believe anything she said.”

But Patrick said after the meeting that she is convinced there is not a cluster of brain tumors in Cameron.

“What we’re really seeing is an increase in brain tumors across the country,” Patrick said. “That’s the problem that needs to be solved.”

Frank Buck, a Cameron resident, asked Patrick if she could say how many of the 70 cases were within Cameron city limits. He said media reports had “put a target on the city of Cameron” and he resented it.

But Patrick said she could not remember the exact number and that confidentiality rules limited what she could say.

However, she said, the investigation showed that Cameron “is not ground zero” for a brain tumor outbreak.

“If I was a resident here, I would be relieved (by the results),” Patrick said.

But Rep. Jim Guest, R-King City, whose district includes Cameron, said many Cameron residents wanted to know what was going on in their town, not in the four-county area.

“They certainly didn’t answer that to the satisfaction of people here,” said Guest.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources said in May that its tests had ruled out the town’s water as a possible cause of the tumors.

In September, a team from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and DNR took samples of tap water from homes in Cameron and the surrounding area.

In August, investigators found high levels of lead and arsenic near a long-closed insulation plant but not enough to threaten health. The business, which is hooked into the city’s water system, turned iron into fiber insulation for buildings and dumped residue from the iron product next to the plant and at a quarry three miles away.

Despite the state’s finding, at least five lawsuits have been filed against the business, Susquehanna Corp. of Delaware, which owned and operated the Rockwool Industries plant three miles west of Cameron. The plant closed more than 20 years ago and the city leased it to a coat hanger manufacturer from 1992 to 2003.

Text Only
State News
  • 2.6 magnitude earthquake recorded in Oklahoma

    The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded a 2.6 magnitude earthquake near Wellston in central Oklahoma.
    No injuries or damage is reported.

    January 19, 2011

  • Audit: $108,000 taken from Missouri Veterans Commission JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A former employee of the state auditor’s office embezzled nearly $108,000 while working as an accountant for the Missouri Veterans Commission, the state auditor alleged Monday.

    Stacy Griffin-Lowery was fired by the Veterans Commission in March 2008 and pleaded guilty three months later to a misdemeanor theft charge. She repaid the state $17,665, the auditor’s office said.

    But Missouri Auditor Susan Montee on Monday accused Griffin-Lowery of swiping an additional $90,192 by getting reimbursed for cash advances and purchases made on her personal credit card.

    April 12, 2010

  • Race in Kansas’ 2nd District could heat up for GOP incumbent TOPEKA, Kan. — A conservative Kansas legislator said Monday he will announce in a few weeks whether he will challenge freshman U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins in the Republican primary.

    State Sen. Dennis Pyle’s actions in recent months suggest the Hiawatha farmer, who’s served in the Legislature since 2001, is running against Jenkins in the Aug. 2 primary. He set up a campaign organization in November and has a Web site featuring a brief video of him on his farm, asking viewers for support.

    April 12, 2010

  • Oklahoma tea party leaders, lawmakers envision militia OKLAHOMA CITY — Frustrated by recent political setbacks, tea party leaders and some conservative members of the Oklahoma Legislature say they would like to create a new volunteer militia to help defend against what they believe are improper federal infringements on state sovereignty.

    Tea party movement leaders say they’ve discussed the idea with several supportive lawmakers and hope to get legislation next year to recognize a new volunteer force

    April 12, 2010

  • Missouri: Senate panel cuts $500 million from proposed budget JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Senate committee declared Thursday that it has sliced more than $500 million from Missouri’s proposed budget for next year — meeting a target set by Gov. Jay Nixon to bring it in balance.

    April 8, 2010

  • Kansas: Wichita-area casino in doubt after governor’s decision TOPEKA, Kan. — A proposed casino south of Wichita was in doubt Thursday after Gov. Mark Parkinson refused to grant its developers a regulatory reprieve. Partners in the $225 million Chisholm Creek project wanted to delay a state board’s decision on their plans.

    April 8, 2010

  • Oklahoma: Groups oppose education spending initiative OKLAHOMA CITY — A coalition of business and labor groups said Thursday it will work to defeat a ballot initiative to dramatically increase spending on public education that coalition members said would devastate the budgets of many other state services and possibly force tax increases.

    April 8, 2010

  • Missouri: Gov. Nixon affirms support for tuition freeze COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has no plans to sit idly while lawmakers consider whether to preserve a tuition freeze deal he assembled before the state’s dire financial status was fully known.

    April 7, 2010

  • Kansas: Agency uses YouTube to illustrate road woes TOPEKA, Kan. — It’s one thing to hear about potholes and state budgets. It’s another to see how the two are connected. That’s part of the thinking behind a new video presentation on YouTube this week from the Kansas Department of Transportation.

    April 7, 2010

  • Oklahoma: Pathologist says girl’s throat might have been cut OKLAHOMA CITY — A 7-year-old girl who was found dead in Oklahoma near the body of her suspected kidnapper likely died after her throat was cut, an independent pathologist said Wednesday, the same day the child’s funeral attracted hundreds of mourners.

    April 7, 2010