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FeedThe Cancer Conundrum
The disease remains a large public health issue in Delaware. The state is making efforts at improving detection and mortality rates. But it’s up to us, too.
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When the story “Eight cancer clusters discovered in Delaware” appeared in The News Journal on April 24, 2008, readers looked at the map of locations and held their breath. Some were relieved to learn their homes weren’t near a cluster. Others weren’t so fortunate.
About four in 10 Delawareans live in an area where cancer rates are 10 percent to 45 percent higher than the state average. As Governor Jack Markell and his team prepared to take office in January, addressing the issue was a priority. Their plan was to reduce environmental causes of cancer, increase enforcement of environmental regulations, promote healthy living among the citizenry and work closely with the Cancer Consortium to reduce cancer rates in Delaware. But we need to play a part, too.
Controlling Industrial Polluters
Though the cancer clusters are near known toxin-emitting plants and factories, it’s difficult to establish a cause-and-effect relationship. “One of our most important areas of focus has been looking at our energy and ways to reduce emissions,” says Collin O’Mara, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
Some of the big plants include the DuPont Company pigment plant and Conectiv power-generating plant east of Wilmington; the Valero oil refinery, Metachem Products and Formosa Plastics near Delaware City; and NRG’s Indian River power plant near Millsboro. But proving cancer is caused by a smokestack isn’t easy.
“I think there’s a constant process of trying to define the environmental causes of cancer,” says Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn. “They are difficult to measure, particularly in a small state, because environmental pollutants travel, whether in the air or the water.
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