Three Fallon leukemia patients lived in same apartment complex

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Three Fallon leukemia patients lived in same apartment complex

By X. Mullen Jr.

Reno Gazette-Journal

Sunday May 27th, 2001

Despite state health officials' frequent claims that there is no apparent

link among the 14 children who have leukemia in Fallon, three of the

affected families lived in the same apartment complex in the 1990s.

" That's outrageous, " said Assemblywoman Marcia de Braga, who Saturday

morning learned of the connection among the families. " It doesn't speak well

for the Division of Health's investigation. "

de Braga said parents of some of the children learned of the coincidence

while on a trip to Disneyland last week. The trip was arranged by a Reno

radio personality who collected $45,000 in donations and free plane tickets.

" Despite being there to avoid thinking about the illnesses, the parents

talked a lot, and in the course of that they realized that three families

lived in the same apartment complex at the same time, " de Braga said.

Health Division spokesman Flamm, who has repeatedly said the families

have nothing to connect them except residence in the Fallon area after 1996,

said the connection among the three families was found. But he said the

information wasn't provided to the families or the public.

Flamm also said preliminary tests of water at the apartment complex turned

up no evidence of contaminants that could be linked to the leukemia cases,

but further tests are planned.

" We didn't discuss this from one client to another, " Flamm said. " People

have a right to confidentiality. "

Critics of the state's handling of the investigation said the incident

provides further proof that state health officials aren't up to the task of

investigating the cancer cluster. They said they fail to see how saying that

three of 14 families shared the same address would have invaded anyone's

privacy.

Dr. Ridenour, a Sparks internist, said there are other connections

among the families that have been undiscovered - or ignored - by the state.

" They just keep saying there's nothing going on. "

Ridenour said his grandson lives at the apartment complex in question and

the family moved out Saturday.

The state Health Division, the federal Centers for Disease Control and the

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry are writing testing

procedures for further investigation of the cluster. State officials said

the testing of both people and the environment will start once test

protocols are established this summer.

The victims include a 10-year-old boy who remains in a drug-induced coma at

an Orange County, Calif., hospital. His father said doctors hold out only a

1 percent chance for the boy's survival and he's expected to become the

first child to die from the leukemia epidemic in Fallon.

Of the 14 confirmed cases of childhood leukemia, 13 have been diagnosed in

the last two years.

The cause of the outbreak has not been determined.

Theories include exposure to military fuels, children's susceptibility to

virus exposure related to movement of large numbers of people into and out

of Fallon, high levels of naturally occurring arsenic in drinking water,

industrial pollution, and pesticides or fungicides used on area farms.

The victims include a girl with acute myelogenous leukemia or AML, a less

commonly diagnosed leukemia in children; and 13 other cases of acute

lymphocytic leukemia or ALL, the most common.

ALL destroys bone marrow. While its cause is unknown, suspected triggers

include radiation exposure, electromagnetic fields or volatile organic

compounds, such as benzene, solvents and fossil fuels. Arsenic has not been

linked to acute lymphocytic leukemia. AML is similar, although a different

class of white blood cells are affected.