Families Against Cancer & Toxics

By Christy Lattin
Lahontan Valley News

RENO, Nev. — “I fought in two wars when I was in the military. I fought a third war to keep my son alive.”

Jeff Braccini, whose 3-year-old son was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia in 2001, opened the leukemia cluster scientific symposium held Friday at the University of Nevada, Reno, by showing scientists the human face of the disease they’re studying.

The grantees of the federal grant secured to study the Fallon leukemia cluster, which sickened 17 children from 1997 to 2001, gathered for the annual symposium to share preliminary findings and to discuss their research.

Braccini is a member of the Families In Search of Truth, which was formed to push for further scientific study after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came and went. He said that while there is a political impact to the cluster, science and politics don’t mix, although politicians were necessary to secure the $688,000 grant.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., met with the families and agreed with them that further scientific research into the cluster was necessary. The funds were received in 2005 and awarded to several grantees, with oversight provided by Dr. William Murphy from UNR’s School of Medicine, principal investigator for scientific oversight.

Each presenter provided preliminary results from the ongoing scientific investigation. The conclusions are due to be released in 2009.

Joseph Wiemels, a grantee with the University of California, San Francisco, heads a children’s cancer control study in the Bay Area with 1,1100 cases and felt the Fallon leukemia cluster cases would be applicable and provide insight into childhood leukemia.

His existing research showed that exposure to paint and solvent during pregnancy or shortly after birth can sometimes lead to cellular changes, which may leave a child genetically more susceptible to leukemia. This pre-natal translocation is referred to as the “first hit.”

Wiemels’ ongoing studies are investigating whether exposure to certain viruses as a young child, like adenovirus, could lead to a “second hit” and possibly leukemia. He noted that after the U.S. military ceased vaccination for adenovirus in 1999, it “returned with a vengeance” and that adenovirus is found in some newborns that develop acute lymphocytic leukemia.

Wiemels said there is a “Catch-22” in Nevada when it comes to accessing cancer information. He said he needs to contact seven more cluster families to ask for their participation in his studies, but he is prohibited by Nevada Revised Statutes to even receive their contact information.

He also said local officials have discouraged him from soliciting for more samples.

Chris Pritsos, Ralph Seiler and Lisbeth Welniak, who are grantees with the University of Nevada, Reno, collected water from five wells in Churchill County, using Reno municipal water as a control, and gave the samples to mice for 10 weeks to see what effect the elements arsenic, tungsten, uranium and polonium had on the mice. Welniak hypothesized that ingesting the Lahontan Valley groundwater stimulates B-cell precursors, which can lead to leukemia, and increases oxidative stress and damage.

The mice were tested after two and a half, five and 10 weeks. While the tests did not show any significant advancement in B-cell precursors, the mice did have an increase in oxidative stress and damage.

Pritsos said that while the study suggests biological damage can result from exposure to the four elements, it’s unclear whether the damage itself could lead to leukemogensis or make individuals more sensitive to other leukemia triggers.

Mark Witten, a grantee with the University of Arizona, said he’s been working on the Fallon cluster for six years, beginning with tree core samples. He said tree core samples from Fallon were similar to those he’s done in Sierra Vista, the site of another childhood leukemia cluster.

His current tests exposed mice to tungsten in the air and water and measured their physical effects. He sought to expose mice pups to tungsten before birth, but he ran into obstacles.

Witten used the “Old Sire” study, which uses older males exposed to tungsten to breed with younger female mice because he noted that the fathers of the Fallon cluster children were older than average. The problem showed how the females didn’t get pregnant because the males’ testicular tissue was damaged at the cellular level. He repeated the test with younger sires exposed to tungsten and discovered their testicular tissue also was damaged.

Witten’s preliminary conclusion is that prenatal exposure to tungsten may increase susceptibility to viruses, and tungsten exposure may be associated with reproductive disease.

Paul R. Sheppard, a researcher with the University of Arizona who has been involved with the Fallon leukemia cluster study for four years, has recently evaluated dust on broadleaf tree leaves as environmental monitors for airborne particulates.

Sheppard sampled leaves at 95 locations within and just outside of the Fallon city limits. He collected the leaves, rinsed them and analyzed the rinsate.

Murphy said the research team needed to search for more funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense instead of relying upon unpredictable congressional appropriations.

CHRISTY LATTIN is community news editor for the Lahontan Valley News in Fallon, Nev.