Acreage Residents Receive Update on Cancer Investigation

	A standing-room-only crowd of more than 300 attended the three-hour panel discussion. « Previous | Next »

Several hundred concerned Acreage residents filled the Clayton Hutcheson Agricultural Center on July 30 for an update on an investigation by state health officials into a possible cancer cluster in the rural-residential community north of Royal Palm Beach.
District 6 County Commissioner Jess Santamaria, County Administrator Bob Weisman, and Dr. Alina Alonso, acting director of the Palm Beach County Health Department joined officials with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the panel discussion.

Mr. Weisman told the audience the county would conduct spot testing of soil at nearby schools, and Jack Long, director of the DEP Southeast District, said water samples from some residents’ private wells will be checked. Both procedures are separate from the state’s investigation, currently in Phase 1.

State health officials are working to identify the geographic parameters of the potential cluster and to confirm the types of cancers present. A cluster is generally defined as a higher than expected rate of a type of cancer concentrated in one geographic area. Approximately 20 different adult and pediatric cancer types have been identified thus far. State investigators are also compiling a list of suspected environmental exposures and contaminants to determine the potential increased rate of cancer.

Phase 1 should be completed by the end of August and, depending upon the results, a second phase could be ordered. It would involve environmental assessment of air, soil and water in The Acreage. Dr. Alonso advised that it is very hard to prove cause and effect in these types of cases.