By DAVID ROSS
With a large portrait of Laura Gipson, whose life was claimed by a brain tumor, looking on, about 300 residents crowded the Upper Elementary School gym Saturday to get answers to whether or not there is a cancer cluster in Valley Center.
But no answers were forthcoming. Only promises to start the fact-gathering process from which answers may be found, if there are answers to be found.
Dr. Hoda Anton-Culver, director of the California Cancer Registry for San Diego, Imperial and Riverside counties, promised to get to the bottom of whether a cancer cluster exists and if it does, what caused it.
“I want to make sure we have very real and very analytic data,” she told the audience. “Do we have a cluster? I don’t know, but we are going to find out.”
She bristled when a resident suggested her team would try to placate community fears and concerns with “statistics,” which questioners seemed to equate with “cover-up.”
“I am very serious. If we had wanted to give statistics, we could have given you statistics. We are going to be working on the problem. I don’t want you to say that we are going to give you a bunch of statistics.”
Toward the end of four hours, the County’s chief medical officer, Dr. George Flores, Director of Public Health, was asked if people should drink bottled water and stop eating vegetables.
“We don’t have information at this time that we have an unusual risk here,” he said. “We don’t have information that we don’t have an unusual risk. It would be jumping to conclusions to say that we do. We have not made any conclusions about the risks or perceived risks.
“I haven’t heard any information that you have any unusual risk. I have not heard information that says change your lives because you are at risk here. That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to follow up on your concerns.”
Only a handful present were parents of children whose cases brought officials from the California Cancer Registry and various County offices to hear their concerns.
Some were friends or relatives of adults who have cancer. Some suggested that the study be expanded to include animals with cancerous growths.
Penny Gipson, whose daughter’s battle with brain cancer brought national attention, said:
“We lost Laura in 1999 at age 19. She endured four brain surgeries. She wanted to live a full life. . . We are not here to blame. We want to make sure that no other child experiences this daily torture.”
The Gipsons moved here in 1989. “We didn’t think cancer would enter our lives but it did. Laura never wanted any other child to endure what she endured. We searched for ways to make sense out of this and why so many children have become sick and real children have died. Please listen to us and help us,” she asked.
Kim Cooper, whose son, Michael has leukemia, talked about chemotherapy he endured and how it wiped out his bone marrow and caused mouth and throat sores.
“I have never felt so helpless in his care and comfort,” she said.
Michael just underwent stem cell treatment. He will undergo tests to see if the treatments worked. If he has a relapse, she said, he has a 10% chance of survival.
The Job Ahead
“The purpose of this meeting is to create a dialogue,” Dr. Anton-Culver told the audience, and added, “We have to be focused and have a definite plan.”
She praised the data the group of parents and residents has gathered. “The group has done a good enough job that it will make our job much easier,” she said.
“By having that dialogue we may learn a little more about what causes cancer. We can’t prevent things unless we know what causes them.”
Dr. Anton-Culver’s medical associates are based at the University of California, Irvine.
They register every cancer that occurs in the 7 million population of three counties, between 26,000-27,000 a year.
“Today we are concentrating on childhood cancer,” she said. This is considered a category by itself.
Most childhood cancers are leukemia (the number one type), brain tumors and lymphoma. Leukemia accounts for one third of cancer between ages 1-14.
There is more than one type of leukemia. ALL accounts for 82% of all cases, followed by AML (14.5%) and then other less common varieties. Male children have a higher risk than females.
To assess the situation, they must first identify the cases and collect data on exposures.
“When did the exposure occur? How strong is the association? Is it a strong case where we have more leukemias than what we would expect?” she said.
Two factors are at work: 1) The victim must have a genetic predisposition towards cancer. 2) Something must trigger it.
“Genetic predisposition to a disease does not act in a vacuum. The triggering is the function of another hit. Even though DNA might make someone more susceptible to cancer, that alone cannot cause the disease,” she said.
You can’t lump all cancers together, she said. “The specific type of cancer is important.
There are multiple types of leukemias and there may be multiple impacts causing them.
Dosage of exposure to a potential carcinogen is important as is when it happened. There is a latency period between exposure and when the cancer appears. It’s hard to determine such things precisely, but good studies can come up with approximate times.
“We don’t expose ourselves to one agent we expose ourselves to many,” she said.
She discussed the documented childhood cancer cases in VC.
1997— Two cases of brain tumors were documented.
1998— One brain tumor case was documented.
1999— No cases
2000—One case of stomach cancer; one case of ALL leukemia in a 14 year old child; one brain tumor.
2001— One case of thyroid cancer in a 15 year old; one case of lung cancer; one case of ALL leukemia.
“I’m telling you what is in the record. I am here today to collect information and start that dialogue. We are desperate to get all the information you have to give us,” she said.
Possible Carcinogens
Dr. Dwight Culver, toxicologist, gave background on possible environmental causes of cancer.
The classic cause of leukemia is ionizing radiation. Information on this disease was collected from Japanese victims of the atomic bombs in 1945.
Electromagnetic fields have been studied, said Culver. One study showed that exposure to household wiring increased the rate of leukemia in the study group.
Most other studies are related to pesticides:
Studies of pesticides on leukemia “are very difficult to determine,” said Culver. Usually researchers have to use surrogates who work on farms.
Studies must take into account direct contact with surfaces that have been treated by pesticides because they are designed to be absorbed through the skin.
Other things have been found to cause leukemia, but they primarily cause it in adults.
Not many other chemicals have been identified with leukemia, said Culver.
“The frontier stage”
Dr. Flores told the audience, “We took very seriously the communication that was going on between the residents and the cancer registry. We look at all sorts of health. We track heart disease, car accidents and various communicable diseases. The specialists that particularly look at cancer are before you today.
“We are hearing information today that would have been impossible to get five or ten years ago on how cancer occurs and what we can do to prevent it. But we are still at a frontier stage, and we must recognize our limits. We are here to learn from you. If we need other experts we at the County will do all we can to bring those people forward.
Collecting Information
According to Deborah Bringman, assistant director, San Diego Cancer Registry, California law requires that all cancers, except skin cancer, be reported. California is divided into ten regions. Within each region is a cancer registry.
The law requires that hospitals, clinics, labs, pathology labs, even the coroner, reports cases. If cancer patients move between regions, it’s reported. Data is linked to death certificates and coded to geographical location.
A six month delay exists in getting the cases and another eight-nine months before they get into the database.
“You may know of cancer cases today that we do not know of yet,” she said.
Texas Sharpshooters
Dr. Thomas H. Taylor Ph.D is a biostatistician with the San Diego Cancer Register. He called himself the “Mr. Spock,” of the group.
They gather statistics for ZIP codes, he said.
He told the story of the Texas sharpshooter who fired a shot and then drew a target around the bullet hole.
“It’s very tempting to do that,” he said.
Dozens of factors are included. “We like to make models as complicated as we can because then we get more data,” said Dr. Taylor.
They use cancer incidence rates from the county or state to give an expected number of patients to use as a yardstick to estimate the expected number of cases for the area they are investigating.
A certain number, a mathematical average, is considered “normal.” “The question for a cluster is are there more than that?
The average number of children who get cancer in California each year is 1105.
A child between 0-8 years old has 78 chances in one million of getting cancer in a given year.
In the 92082 zipcode are 766 children, nowhere near a million.
“Does that mean you are going to get none?” said Taylor. “No. That is the longterm average. Think of it as risk. Chances are very small but they are not zero.”
Bottom line is that most years VC won’t get a leukemia patient.
Agencies that will be looking at the possible problem reported:
Pesticides
Kathleen Thuner, director of the County Dept. of Agriculture, Weights & Measures, talked about the fact gathering of pesticide use in the last 20 years.
Permits are required to use pesticides. Since 1990 California has required that all commercial and ag pesticide use be reported.
Since becoming aware of the “cluster” concern the department has searched its databases looking at a variety of crops in VC and what pesticides are used on them, she said.
In the air
County Air Pollution Control Officer R. J. Sommerville said that there are no unusual emissions for this area. “So far there is nothing that stands out as a potential source of concern.”
Toxic Substances
Livy Levy of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (sister agency to Center for Disease Control) combines environmental issues with public health.
Dr. Anton-Culver concluded, “If we do decide to do a study we won’t limit it to water or air. We will take it to the pesticides used the garden, when did they move from one town to the other—about two hundred data items.”
Q&A
For two hours the panel fielded questions from the audience.
Some were very concerned about the styrene used in the production of plastic by Survival Systems, an operation on the Rincon Reservation that builds life pods for drilling platforms.
Styrene is used to make polystyrene and synthetic rubber. Styrene “has gotten a bad reputation because studies have shown a connection between working in synthetic rubber plants and leukemia in adults.” said Dr. Culver.
Sommerville said the County has no jurisdiction over the reservation but that engineers from his department have visited the Survival Systems operation, “and it’s very clean.”
Several people wanted the study expanded to all cancers, not just childhood cases.
“I’m just one person and three friends that I know have had lymphoma and brain tumors,” declared one woman.
“I want to encourage you to extend this to adults,” said an elderly woman.
Another woman encouraged the registry to include the entire school district and the entire water district.
One man said several of his dogs have died of tumors and asked that the study be expanded to include pets. He said a vet told him that over 60 animals were affected.
Dr. Flores said he would ask the County veterinarian to become involved.
Meg Doyal, a member of the cancer group that contacted the registry, held up a map where she has plotted additional cases.
She said she has been contacted by nine new cases of cancer since her group began its study.
Judy Silverman, also of the cancer group, said, “I know we get our water from the Colorado River, but what happens to the water when it gets here?”
One audience member declared: “We are property owners here and the last thing we want to do is start a panic that would affect our property values.”
* * *
Soon the Cancer Registry’s website, www.epi.uci.edu, will have a Valley Center page with updated data on the study. (Note: The Roadrunner will link this website at www.valleycenter.com
The school district acted quickly, when two mothers of cancer victims came to see the VC school district with their concerns about possible carcinogens in the water that school children come in contact with (Please see related story this page).
According to Supt. Jeff Mulford he ordered the well water used to water the grass at the middle school tested as well as VC Municipal Water District’s water.
“We not only tested the well water but validated what the water district has said about its water,” said Dr. Mulford.
The well water actually came out cleaner than the water district’s water, but only because it’s not chlorinated, he said. The additional chemicals that are by-products of chlorination are bromodichloromethane, bromoform, chloroform and dibromochloromethane.
The school’s well water contained trihalomethanes measuring 41 parts per billion (ppb). The water district’s water measured at 44 ppb. Environmental Protection Agency standards for trihalomethanes are 100 ppb.
The tests were conducted by BSK Analytical Laboratories out of San Diego.
The well water was tested at the middle school because, “The commonality of the children who have had cancer is that they all went through the middle school,” he said.
Well water is used at the primary, lower elementary, upper elementary and middle schools but not at the high school.
Well water is used to water grass and other landscape irrigation, but not for potable water uses, such as drinking fountains.
Some local parents are concerned that there might be more cancer victims in Valley Center than our population would warrant.
According to their figures 14 people have contracted cancer in VC in the last five years, since 1997.
The cases they say they have documented have reportedly been in the same general area of town, although so far no map has been made public.
A meeting was held between these parents and representatives from the California Cancer Register on Saturday. This is covered elsewhere in the paper.
Grading has begun for Woods Valley Ranch, and its first home will probably appear in March of 2003, but the golf course it was supposed to be built around has hit a sand trap.
A public golf course has been part of the 270 unit development since its inception more than a decade ago, but James Delhamer, president of the California Division of Newland Communities, which has bought the land, says no golf course developer can be found to build it.
Reason: North San Diego County is saturated with golf courses.
Delhamer told The Roadrunner, “When we came forward with this project we had a golf course developer, Carltas, who was working with us, who agreed that when the property was purchased he would take the development forward.”
Carltas, a Carlsbad firm, had looked at the project as a long term investment. But in November they came to Newland and said the golf course was not economically feasible.
Newland closed escrow and, meantime, talked to several other golf course developers.
“Essentially there are too many daily fee golf courses in San Diego North County. Existing golf course developments are struggling.
In previous developments, Newland has built private golf courses, said Delhamer.
“In terms of the golf course at this time it’s not economically feasible. That’s not to say ‘ever’, but just at this particular time,” said Delhamer.
As the county grows that may change, he said. They intend to hang onto the major use permit that is needed to develop a golf course.
However, the project’s specific plan calls for a waste water treatment plant and a place to dispose of the water. If there’s no golf course, what will use the water?
The answer is: farming.
Newland plans to grow alfalfa, to plant olive trees to grow “extra virgin olive oil,” and vineyards.
That farm use would be in place until a golf course becomes viable, he said.
Larry Glavinic, chairman of the VC Planning Group, questioned whether Newland could legally not build a golf course. “An SPA (Specific Plan Amendment) has certain requirements and they are legally required to be fulfilled. There’s no golf course initially. Ultimately there may be.”
Newland has been working with VC grove manager Al Stehly to explore “appropriate” ag uses that are also financially feasible, “that will create a pleasant open space ambience for homes that will be built under the current map,” according to Delhamer.
Woods Valley Ranch has historically been used for olive production.
The ag use will be thematically geared to the overall project, which will have an Old California look.
In addition to using reclaimed water for farming, Delhamer said they are designing a system for the open space to be owned by the home owner’s association.
The change of plans regarding the golf course won’t affect the building of the sewer plant, reclaimed water operation, or the traffic improvements planned for Woods Valley Road, such as the traffic signal that will be placed at the intersection of Woods Valley Road & Valley Center Road.
“Those will be some of the first improvements going in,” said Delhamer.
The signal could go in this year, he said. “I’d be surprised if it didn’t.”
The development will consist of 30 6000 square foot lots approved under original plan and 70 custom/semi-custom lots where houses will be built one or two at a time on speculation by custom/semi-custom home builders.
The rest will include 170 lots from 15,000-20,000 square feet that will be sold to two different production builders who will bring in model homes.
Grading will be done in early summer. Lots will be given to builders in the fall, with models opening in March of 2003, said Delhamer.
A clubhouse available for public use had been intended as part of the golf course. That public building will still be built, said Delhamer.
“Although the golf course may be delayed, that facility will be there for the community,” he said.
By DAVID ROSS
Jeanne Wright has always loved the theater, and has taught in the local schools for many years.
These two factors combined when Mrs. Wright recently decided to leave her estate to be used for the planned VC high school performance arts center.
Mrs. Wright is a resource specialist, teaching special ed for grades K-8 at Pauma School, where she has taught for 15 years.
Mrs. Wright has no close living relatives and she decided that her estate could be put to better use close to home.
“I’m really the last of my line on both sides of the family. I have some very distant relatives that I don’t know,” she says.
Her husband died in 1993. They had had a living trust. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of leaving her estate to the school district. She initially thought about leaving it to be used for scholarships. Then she talked to Olivia Leschick, who used to be Pauma School’s superintendent, and now is Director of Special Projects of the unified district.
Mrs. Leschick told her about the planned performing arts center, and this excited her.
“I’ve always been an afficionado of the theater,” she says.
She didn’t really want any publicity involved about her gift, (“I’m doing this because of my interest in the theater.”) but realized that others might be inspired to donate money to the theater.
Her interest in the theater goes back to her high school days when she directed The Man Who Came to Dinner.
Mrs. Wright has been a teacher since 1983. She started out as a stockbroker but didn’t find it very rewarding.
She has taught in many places during her career, including teaching English in the Phillipines for the U.S. Dept. of Defense, and in Singapore, where she had her own small school.
Another reason for her gift is her feeling that the state inadequately funds arts programs, although she thinks VC-Pauma School District is doing a lot of good things in the teaching of performing arts.
“I think art taps part of the brain that other studies don’t and I think it’s dreadful that the state is neglecting the arts.”
Mrs. Wright’s legacy can be used for such things as purchasing a curtain for the stage of the theater and for maintenance. Basically anything that the theater needs. It can be used as a continuous legacy through the years to help maintain the theater as an artistic cornerstone of the community for many years.
The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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