Childhood cancer probe suffers setback

By Andrew Conte Special to the Press Journal (Vero Beach, FL) Copyright 1998 Scripps Howard Newspapers August 12, 1998

PORT ST. LUCIE - The results of an ongoing St. Lucie County childhood cancer investigation will not be completed for at least two more months because some homeowners are continuing to stonewall efforts to collect air and water samples, health officials said Tuesday.

State and county investigators are looking for carcinogens that could have caused a higher-than-normal rate of childhood brain and nerve-cell cancers in St. Lucie County, and they are collecting water, air, soil and dust in the houses where the children with cancer lived.

The study could have been completed in March, but investigators said they have had difficulty finding some homeowners or convincing those they have located to allow the sampling. The St. Lucie County Health Department, which conducts the testing, has gained access to 34 of the 43 homes where it had hoped to collect samples, said Jim Moses, county environmental health director.

"Fortunately we're not dealing with hundreds of children," he said. "Unfortunately, with such a small number, every case is important to us."

Moses joined other county and state officials for a public meeting at the Port St. Lucie Community Center to review the progress of their investigation. Fewer than 20 people attended the meeting, including the investigators, media reporters and a handful of concerned parents.

As health officials continue looking for carcinogens, founders of the parents' organization Suffer the Children announced that they are expanding the group's services to help more families with children who have cancer.

Parents formed the group in 1997 after a Stuart News/Port St. Lucie News investigation uncovered the high rate of childhood cancers in St. Lucie County. The state Health Department has since found 30 children in St. Lucie County and 12 in Martin County with the rare brain or nerve cell cancers. The St. Lucie County number includes three new cases from 1997 and one from 1998.

Juliann Freitas, who founded Suffer the Children after her son died of brain cancer in 1997, said the group remains very concerned about possible carcinogens and felt the need to offer more services to the community. The organization will act as an advocate for children with cancer, a clearinghouse for information on the disease, a conduit between families and the state and a provider of emotional and financial support.

"Now that we have been successful in getting the testing started, we're going to focus on helping the families of children with cancer," Freitas said during the meeting. "Many families do not even have medical insurance and they do not have anywhere to turn. We want them to be able to turn to us."

Suffer the Children now has a permanent facility at 1870 Biltmore St. in Port St. Lucie, where it will maintain the clearinghouse and provide services. The group hopes to begin day-care services for families of children with cancer, prenatal classes on pesticide use and other educational resources about cancer and carcinogens.

"After the stuff I learned (about carcinogens), I realized we were stupid and everyone else out there is, too," said Marge McIntyre, a founding member of the parents' group. "I always thought that if something on was on a store shelf it was safe to buy and use. Not any more."

Trying to raise funds for its new projects, Suffer the Children will hold a pancake breakfast at the Port St. Lucie Jaycees Hall on Aug. 29. The parents also called on members of the community to volunteer time and goods as well as a building or piece of commercial property for the group's permanent home.

"I am so proud of the people in this area," Freitas said about the donations the group has already received. "I never thought people could be so generous."

Despite the progress made by Suffer the Children, two other parents complained that the Health Department has not done enough to hold up their end of the bargain. Jeffrey and Rosemarie Rose of Port St. Lucie said they were worried for their own children and angered that no one has any answers about possible causes yet.

'Somebody needs to get something going here," Jeffrey Rose said."The state needs to get in here and take care of this."

He and his wife are so concerned about cancer-causing agents in the local environment that they tried unsuccessfully to sell their home and no longer drink their well water. Bathing their 2-year-old and 4-year-old, the couple try to make sure the kids do not ingest any water.

But Freitas and McIntyre rushed to the Health Department's defense, saying they want the agency to take its time and do the job right. If investigators rush to conclusions they could overlook a legitimate problem, Freitas said.

"The state is doing everything possible,"she said. "I'm the last person who would ever badmouth them. This is a delicate thing and we don't want anything rushed."

The Health Department's investigation will look at 560 different possible carcinogens in each home, at a cost of $ 2,700 per house. The agency has collected samples in homes where the children with cancer spent a lot of time and will compare that data against samples from control houses.

Investigators expect to complete the sampling by mid-September and to begin reviewing the results with families by the end of that month. It hopes to issue a final report on the findings at a public meeting in early October.

Persons wanting more information on Suffer the Children or who want to volunteer may call 878-8000.

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