3) Study of Environmental Factors Related to Cancer
     Phil Scheuerman, Kurt Maier, Rachel Gilmour, Carolyn Sue Doyle,
     ETSU Department of Environmental Health Sciences

     SUMMARY
     This report summarizes initial descriptive findings from a survey of Federal superfund site files in the three state Appalachian region. The report serves as a primer on environmental epidemiological approaches necessary to address and answer community beliefs and concerns about perceived higher than average cancer deaths thought to be due to environmental causes. Significant data gaps were found in report files. The report explains factors (e.g, additional personal exposures and lifestyle choices) that prevent formation of causal theories about environmental exposures and cancer. The report establishes high prevalence of two environmental factors, superfund sites and radon concentrations, throughout the region. However, a simple spatial analysis comparing superfund sites with cancer mortality rates was inconclusive.

     FINDINGS
     3.1   The availability and quality of existing data is inadequate for establishing a viable link between environmental exposures and potential cancer risks, even at national and state declared Superfund sites.
     3.2   Chemical releases are high in some Appalachian counties of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.
     3.3   Significant data gaps exist that need to be addressed before attempting to link high exposures to the occurrence of cancer; gaps include information about the potentially exposed populations such as occupation and lifestyle choices (e.g., diet, smoking).
     3.4   Long-term county-specific studies are recommended to address project limitations: the size of region (being too large) and length of study (being too short). For example, any effort to transfer quality data sets to a single Appalachian specific database will require more time and resources than allocated during this short-term project.

Environmental Factors Article (PDF File)

Back To RACDP Projects