Concerned La Playa residents met at the San Diego Yacht Club Thursday, March 23 to discuss the purported high incidence of cancer in their community. A small committee, at work since last year to survey the neighborhood and analyze data collected, presented their inconclusive findings at the meeting and promised to begin a second, more comprehensive look at Point Loma.
Some committee members were also quick to dismiss insinuations that any perceived high rate of cancer in the area be linked to a massive fuel leak at the nearby Naval Base Point Loma.
Katherine Kennedy and Celeste Holthaus, La Playa neighbors, started asking questions eleven months ago after hearing about one too many new cancer cases among their acquaintances. Kennedy, chair of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (SKCC) Foundation board of trustees, and Holthaus, also a board member, held a community meeting in May 2005 and began surveying their neighbors to assess how many people actually had cancer, particularly head and neck varieties. Last week’s gathering shared the results of that survey, which were too ambiguous to satisfy Kennedy or Holthaus.
“We as a community need to understand what was assessed, what was surveyed and we need to take the same actions because no one else is going to do it for us,” Kennedy told the audience.
Kennedy contends that the first survey did not reach enough community members suffering from head and neck cancers, and that a renewed effort to contact every resident of the 92106 ZIP code is the only option to positively rule out an abnormally high incidence for the area.
Twenty-three cancer patients filled out the first survey, although only 12 were included in the data analysis. People who smoked, had cancer other than head and neck varieties or recently moved to the area were not considered. An epidemiologist from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) determined that the information collected in 2005 did not indicate a higher incidence of the disease when compared to statistics from the San Diego/Imperial Organization for Cancer Control (SANIOCC), located at UCI.
While the rate of cancer cases is not increasing annually in La Playa, according to the survey, no one in the room seemed ready to dismiss their worries. The individuals surveyed were diagnosed as recently as this year, but the most recent SANIOCC statistics used were dated 2002. Additionally, the registry does not publish pertinent lifestyle information of the patients, which is essential for this type of nuanced study.
On hand to interpret the findings and provide background information on the study and disease were epidemiologist Marisa Anderson and Dr. Albert Deisseroth, SKCC president and CEO. Anderson described the symptoms for head and neck cancers, which comprise 3 to 5 percent of all cancers, but do not include the esophagus, brain, eyes, thyroid, scalp, skin, muscles or bones. She added that incidence is higher among men than women, and the biggest risk factors are cigarette and alcohol use.
Deisseroth reiterated that the UCI results were not decisively good or bad, but instead emphasized the need to probe further. He encouraged a community-vetted initiative to the dismay of some residents who placed the onus on local doctors to thoroughly investigate a possible cancer cluster.
“We have to prepare as a community to go forward with the next step to collect the information that will enable us to definitively decide if we have this problem,” Deisseroth said. “We can’t really be sure of what is going on until we get a more comprehensive look at the community.”
Deisseroth said 80 percent of cancers are thought to be produced by environmental factors, which interact with an individual’s unique susceptibility. Should Kennedy’s suspicions be confirmed and an abnormally high rate of cancer is discovered in La Playa or the greater peninsula area, efforts to identify the causing factors would then commence. Nonetheless, the crowd was eager to discuss possible causes within the community.
The Navy’s recent announcement that three of their massive fuel tanks near La Playa have leaked as much as 1.5 million gallons of petroleum into the ground since 1999 has fueled buzz surrounding a peninsula cancer cluster, despite preliminary reports that the underground plume poses no immediate health risks.
Kennedy and Deisseroth redirected questions regarding the leak to the Navy, pointing out that their inquiry began long before the Navy’s admission.
“It’s important that we don’t go in it with a negative attitude, that we go in it with a positive attitude and try and find a cure and try and find if there is something that causes [the cancer],” said resident Bill Munster in regards to the finger pointing. Since being diagnosed with squamous cell cancer in 1999, Munster has had two surgeries and 152 radiation treatments.
Kennedy and her committee will need volunteers and funds to complete their current study, which needs all of Point Loma to participate. For more information or a survey, email [email protected] or call (858) 452-5928. Completed surveys can be faxed to (858) 452-5860.