Families Against Cancer & Toxics

Famillies in the Sierra Vista childhood leukemia cluster were scheduled to meet with a team of CDC experts on Tuesday, September 12, 2006, to hear the results of the bio-sampling for environmental chemicals in their bodies. But last week the meeting was cancelled.

Dr. Timothy Flood of the Arizona Department of Health Services, who is cheif of the Arizona Cancer Registry, said that the CDC ran out of money in their budget to travel.

CDC told the Cochise County public information officer Karla Jensen that contractual changes prevented any travel until after the start of their fiscal year, October 1. The meeting may be delayed even longer, to ensure the participation of the full CDC team, which includes an epidemiologist, a pediatrician, and a laboratory scientist.


In May 2005 the CDC took blood, urine, and mouth swab samples from 5 familes in the cluster, plus 9 other comparison families, to test for 148 environmental chemicals in their bodies. The CDC told families to expect results in a year, but May 2006 was postponed to September 2006, and now it has been postponed again.

Meanwhile some of the families report that most people in Sierra Vista they talk with don't even know about the cluster.

FACT notes that delays are really effective at sweeping health problems under a carpet.