Inquiry into children with cancer divides Valley Center sides

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Inquiry into children with cancer divides Valley Center sides

By Millay

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

March 15, 2002

VALLEY CENTER - A group of as many as two dozens residents have been meeting

since November to discuss concerns about what they say is an unusually high

number of children in town who have contracted cancer.

But in the past few months, some parents and friends of the affected

children have distanced themselves from the group. They say some of the

members were getting carried away with their response to the issue.

One woman, Snyder, who does not have a child who has cancer, took a

lawyer to a few meetings. That has made some people uncomfortable.

Kerry Carr, the mother of a teen-age son with leukemia, said the lawyer

attended as a friend of Snyder's, but also was there to talk to any parents

considering legal action. " I myself wasn't interested, " Carr said.

Another member of the group said she was outraged that Snyder brought a

lawyer with her.

Snyder, who declined to name the lawyer, said legal action has been

discussed at meetings, but that wasn't the reason the lawyer attended.

" He is my good friend and he did live in Valley Center, " Snyder said. " He

has children . . . and is thinking about moving back. "

Snyder said that even though she does not have a relative with cancer, she

is attending meetings because she is concerned about what is happening in

town.

In the fall, Carr conducted an informal survey of the number of children

with cancer in Valley Center. Since then, she has confirmed 17 cases have

been diagnosed since 1997.

Community concerns prompted county and state officials to launch an

investigation into whether Valley Center could have a " cancer cluster, " the

occurrence of a greater-than-expected number of cases of a disease within a

group of people, a geographic area or a time period.

A panel of state and county experts held a meeting Jan. 26 to answer the

community's questions. Shortly after the meeting, the epidemiology division

at the University of California Irvine College of Medicine created a Web

page devoted to the investigation. It sponsored an online election so the

community could choose four residents to serve on a committee with the

experts.

Carr, Mike , Penny Gipson and Judy Silverman were elected. The

committee plans to meet in April or May, Carr said.

But Snyder said she is frustrated by a lack of progress, and has scheduled a

meeting tomorrow to discuss what the community should do. " Knowing how long

the government takes to do anything, 'united we stand, divided we fall' is

my philosophy, " she said.

The investigators have failed to keep their promises, Snyder said. " We don't

want to just sit and wait, we want to be proactive. "

The lead investigator, Dr. Hoda Anton-Culver, regional director of the

California Cancer Registry and epidemiology director at UC Irvine, could not

be reached for comment.

None of the committee members helped plan Snyder's meeting, said Carr, who

plans to attend, but only as an observer.

Silverman, one of the committee members who has distanced herself from the

community group, called the meeting counterproductive.

" I'm not going because I just don't feel it's necessary, " she said. " As far

as I'm concerned, I don't think we've given them (investigators) enough

time. "

Carr said she was disappointed that the elected committee won't be meeting

with investigators until April or May. One of the group's first steps is

determining which ZIP codes will be included in the investigation.

" Soon after the committee was formed, I was under the impression we were

going to meet very soon, . . . but I am in no way saying the state is not

keeping their promises, " Carr said. " You can't just snap your fingers . . .

it's going to be a long process. "

Tomorrow's meeting will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Valley Center

Community Hall, 28246 Lilac Road.

Millay: (760) 752-6745; christine.millay@...