Fort Chipewyan cancer rate is not elevated

[CHIMO]

Cancer in Fort Chipewyan is not hitting local residents harder than elsewhere in the province, according to a report released by Alberta Health and Wellness and the Alberta Cancer Board.
The report was entered into evidence at the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board hearing Monday into Suncor Energy’s proposed Voyageur project.
It contradicts the view of at least one doctor who treats patients in the hamlet.
In the report’s summary of its findings under the heading Fort Chipewyan health data analysis, “the rates of cholangiocarcinoma, leukemia and lymphoma, and other cancers are not elevated among residents in Fort Chipewyan.”
http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/story.php?id=242657

[MrPrax]

1. They never find one...

Dr. Yiqun Chen, leader of surveillance with the Alberta Cancer Board, said the results are based on cancer registry statistics from 1983 to 2005. The main analysis, from 1995 to 2005, compared Fort Chipewyan to the rest of the province.

She added the figures are based only on statistics. Environmental factors were not considered.

So it avoids the whole thing by simply comparing other places in AB and then establish a baseline. Of course this doesn't rule out that 'other places' might be elevated as well and as such make this district seem perfectly normal in comparison.

From another news report:

"Dr. Yiqun Chen, the head of disease surveillance at the Alberta Cancer Board who did the initial research in the investigation, told CBC News on Tuesday she did not have "the complete data set for 2005, and less complete for 2004" when she reached her conclusion."
CBC

Oh...so most of the stats for the period of review aren't complete anyway...ah, that makes the report and the good doctor all the more suspect...

Background:

Why is Cancer Sweeping Tiny Fort Chipewyan?

"A few months after arriving in 2001, Dr. O'Connor noticed a set of disturbing symptoms in a patient: yellowed eyes, fatigue and abdominal discomfort. It was disturbing not only because it pointed to cholangiocarcinoma, a rare and deadly cancer of the bile duct. The symptoms were all too familiar for Dr. O'Connor, whose father died of the cancer 13 years ago in Ireland.

"I know a lot about it, but I never expected to see it again," he said. "Without treatment, you're dead in about a month. My dad lasted six weeks." Dr. O'Connor said at least three residents of Fort Chipewyan, and likely another two, have died of the disease within the past five years. Statistically speaking, there should be only one case for every 100,000 people, and none at all for a community the size of Fort Chipewyan, he said.

There are similar patterns with other serious diseases. Since 2001, he has diagnosed five cases of leukemia and four cases of lymphoma, a cancer that originates in the lymphatic system. In the past year, Dr. O'Connor has treated at least six patients with Graves' disease, an immune-system ailment, and has seen entire families stricken with lupus, another serious autoimmune disease. So far this year, six people have died of colon cancer, the youngest just 33 years old, the doctor said.

He visits a number of northern communities in his weekly rounds, and no other has been hit by the kind of cancer cluster seen in Fort Chipewyan. Those other communities do not draw their drinking water from the Athabasca River or the lake, however. Faced with those seemingly unique numbers, Dr. O'Connor said he cannot help but believe the cancers in Fort Chipewyan are linked to industrial development elsewhere on the water system. The pulp-and-paper industry is a possibility, he thinks. So is Uranium City, Sask., on the northeast shore of Lake Athabasca, where mining activity ceased years ago, but contamination lingers. Then there are the oil sands, which have been producing bitumen using river water for decades and are heading into a massive expansion."


CommonDreams

They haven't let health interfere with to unfettered industrial expansion in 150 years and they ain't going to start now...

Sorta amazing that the non-cancer clusters in Canada are all around old and new mining operations.

[IntravenousDemilo]

2. ...they said, defensively. n/m

[CHIMO]

3. Local doctor doubts report on Fort Chipewyan cancer rates

A provincial report showing no spike in cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan is considered inadequate by the community's only doctor and medical examiner.

O'Connor accuses Alberta Health of rushing the report to have it ready in time for the hearings into the Suncor expansion.

He says he was told it would take months to do a comprehensive study, not weeks.

He was not contacted for information, nor were the area's First Nations communities, he said. Without community input or involvement, the process has not been transparent, he added.

However, a spokesperson for Alberta Health said the department recognized the problem and reached its conclusion after cross-referencing other databases to look for unusual cancer cases.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2006/07/25/doctor-fortchip.html

In the audio portion the Doctor said that they were "compelled" to issue the report. He didn't think that it was a great reason.

Notice that there was no "spike".

Appears that unusual cases are normal now. Guess that the distribution is now normal as well.