Cancer Cluster Investigation: State of Georgia's Response

The state of Georgia comments on what some are calling a cancer cluster in the Dalton, Georgia area. As we've been telling you, we've spoken to 12 people who say either they or a loved one's been diagnosed with Glioblastoma. All 12 say they either lived, worked or attended school in the Dalton area. Those affected say the number is too high, and they've been asking the state for answers.

"I felt like there should have been more attention from the state." Denise Patterson says for more than a year, she'd been asking Georgia's Department of Health to look into the number of cases of Glioblastoma in the Dalton, Georgia area. Patterson lost her husband to the rare brain cancer. She says she knew there were several other nearby cases. But she says the state couldn't tell her exactly how many.

"We did ask about the numbers, but they don't really know about numbers. And then, they're so far behind with their registry that it takes years I guess for them to get the names."

So we took our investigation to Georgia's Division of Public Health. We asked the Director of the Epidemiology Branch if she could give us the number of cases of Glioblastoma for the Dalton area.

"We have two in 2004, and um, we have four in 2003." Dr. Susan Lance says the state looked at data from 1995 to 2004 from three zip codes: 30721, 30720 and 30755. She says her numbers also include one case of Glioblastoma from 1998.

We then ask Dr. Lance if her numbers include any cases prior to 1998. Dr. Lance replies, "We don't have data from that period at this point. Reporter asks, Why don't you have the data? Dr. Lance replies, "We're in the process of finalizing our death records from those years and with our cancer registry." Reporter asks, by law are you not required to have those numbers? "I don't believe so."

But that's not what we learned from Dr. John Young, Director of the Georgia Center for Cancer Statistics. "In the state of Georgia we have a very strict law which mandates that every person or facility that sees or diagnoses or treats a cancer patient must by law report that information to the department of health."

Dr. Young says state health departments should have numbers starting in 1995, complete through 2004. Reporter asks, Does that surprise you that they wouldn't be able to give us more of a point blank answer? Dr. Young replies, "Yes." Reporter, So what do you think is happening? Dr. Young replies, "Well, I think it might depend on who in the health department you're talking to."

Dr. Young also tells us there are procedures to follow if a cancer cluster is suspected. "A special study would be conducted and in general that would be the responsibility of the Department of Health to conduct that kind of a study. And they would go in and they would do a thorough investigation of residential history, work history, and as you mentioned, where the patient attended school, all those kinds of things."

But Denise Patterson says no one from the state ever came to the Dalton area to conduct a study. "We pretty much did all the work ourselves."

Dr. Lance says, "I don't believe that there's anything we could find on site that would give us further information." Reporter asks, but if you don't go there how do you know? Dr. Lance replies, "How do we know? Reporter, if you don't go and check yourself, how do you know there's nothing on site? Dr. Lance replies, "We would not be able to have information that's not already available to us."

Dr. Lance says Georgia conducted two investigations. She says one report looked at the environment and the other analyzed the state's cancer registry statistics. After looking at those reports Dr. Lance says the state determined "There is no evidence of a cancer cluster in the Dalton area" and therefore, she says, they did not go onsite to further investigate.

But Denise Patterson says if the state's cancer registry is not completely up-to-date, how do they know for sure?

Reporter asks Dr. Young, some in Dalton say it seems like somebody's dropping the ball? Dr. Young replies, "And my guess is it's a resource issue of not having the resources to go and do that." "Generally chronic diseases is low on the priority list and they may have done the best that they could with the resources that they have, and I don't want to say that they didn't do a good job because I really don't know."

Denise Patterson, "It's scary to think that nobody's really doing, you think that things are being taken care of and then you realize that nobody's really watching or nobody's really interested."

Again, NewsChannel9's spoken to 12 people who say they or a loved one's been diagnosed with Glioblastoma who lived, worked, or attended school in the Dalton area. The state's number of cases is 7. As NewsChannel 9 continues digging deeper, we'll let you know why there's a difference in the numbers, and what family members have to say about the state's comments.