State is studying city's cancer rates

As the state health department investigates cancer rates in Methuen, a professor at Boston University said last week that cases of multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, and other autoimmune diseases in the city's Spicket River neighborhood could signal the presence of environmental factors that often cause such diseases.

No link between the contamination and the illnesses has been established, but Richard Clapp, a professor of environmental health at the university's School of Public Health, said these types of illnesses are all rare diseases that may be triggered by chemical exposure.

''So when they start showing up together, it becomes an unusual pattern and a suspicious one," said Clapp, who has not studied the Methuen situation. ''This has the pattern of a chemically exposed community."

Clapp made his observations as the Massachusetts Department of Public Health continued the complicated and difficult task of studying Methuen's cancer rates in an attempt to see whether there is any pattern to cancer cases and, if so, what may be causing the illnesses. Last week, Suzanne Condon, the department's assistant commissioner, said the assessment was launched about six months ago, two years after community residents requested it.

Condon said the immediate plan is to study cancer cases in the city, but other diseases could also be evaluated.

The study is being conducted after community residents learned that six people who live or once lived in the vicinity of contaminated industrial sites along the Spicket River in downtown Methuen were stricken in recent years by illnesses that could have been caused by environmental factors. Two 8-year-old boys have died of cancer; three adults have multiple sclerosis, and one has myasthenia gravis. A postman who delivered mail in the area says he has developed polymyositis, a muscle disease, and scleroderma, which causes a hardening of the skin.

Interviewed about the difficult task of trying to determine whether diseases in an area can be caused by industrial contamination, William Patterson, a physician specializing in occupational health, said finding clusters of illnesses is one factor, but a more critical issue is establishing exposure pathways to show how various contaminants might have ended up in the ill person's drinking water, for example, and then into his system. Patterson, who has not studied the Methuen case, is the chief medical officer of Hingham-based Occupational Health + Rehabilitation Inc.

Condon said it took the state more than two years to begin the cancer investigation because researchers are so backlogged with similar requests. There are now 41 communities waiting for similar cancer assessments to begin, she said.

But, in recent years, the state began placing a higher priority on those communities where children have been diagnosed with cancer, and as a result, she said, the Methuen request moved through the system faster than others.

Condon said most cancer assessments follow a similar pattern.

First, state public health workers collect data from the state's cancer registry. Using a large map, they pinpoint where people who have been stricken with cancer live.

Done right, she said, it is a time-consuming process.

''Sometimes, cancer data comes to the state with a billing address, so we need to match up the billing address with the home address. Sometimes, we need to look up a home address, because all we have is a [post office] box," she said.

Once the cancer sufferers' addresses are pinpointed on the map, the state then incorporates population data, to determine how many people live in the area. By comparing the two data sets, researchers will establish incidence rates.

Then, the researchers may add other data sets, such as work histories of the people and results of various environmental tests. In Methuen, for example, there are reports available that show that the soil at 4 Gleason St., the site of a controversial development proposal, is contaminated. David Spada, the owner of the site, is planning to clean it up before building housing units there.

Finally, with an elaborate, multilayered map before them, the researchers take a step back ''to look for conclusions," Condon said.

''Sometimes, we don't find anything at all. Unfortunately, there's a lot more cancer out there than most people realize," said Condon. ''In other cases, we will say, 'Oh gee, look at that.' "

If that happens, she said, the state might review the sick people's medical records to get a better understanding of diagnoses and genetics. The state might start interviewing people in the neighborhood, and conducting blood and urine tests, too.

The primary goal, she said, is for researchers to determine if there's an unusual pattern of illnesses.

If a pattern is established, the state then has a much more difficult task, Condon said.

''Determining the causes is the difficult part," she said.

But, such studies are always important because they can provide a community with information it doesn't have.

Condon said that whatever the outcome, every community is better off once a cancer assessment has been completed.

''It helps people put cancer in perspective, and it helps them understand if there is a problem.

''[A study] may reveal that something needs to be done in a community, and that maybe there is something wrong with an environmental factor," she said.