UofL expert attributes most of the cases to tobacco smoke
Jump to full article: Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal, 2003-09-07
Author: JAMES BRUGGERS / The Courier-Journal
Intro: A University of Louisville researcher has identified what he calls a "huge" cluster of excessive lung cancers in western and southern Jefferson County.
Looking at reported cases of cancer ZIP code by ZIP code, epidemiologist and associate professor Timothy Aldrich, of the university's School of Public Health and Information Sciences, attributed the large majority to tobacco smoke but said there remained a question about the role of the environment or occupational contaminants.
"The Jefferson County piece is our local version of a much larger picture," he said. "The state has enormously high lung cancer rates."
In his draft study, done at the request of The Courier-Journal, Aldrich reported what he said were excessive rates and "evidence of clustering" for bladder and cervical cancers and leukemia in various locations around Jefferson County. . . .
But not all of the ZIP codes with excessive lung cancers were those with the most smokers, including 40216, 40211 and 40210 in and near the vicinity of Rubbertown — something that one environmental advocate and medical doctor said could suggest industrial sources as a factor in the lung cancer cluster.
"Generally, lung cancer is directly proportional to the smoking rate," said Dr. Mark Mitchell, an environmental consultant and former director of public health in Hartford, Conn., who has been providing technical assistance to the Justice Resource Center.
Mitchell said the lung cancer rates were so high that he wonders whether air quality may be contributing to them. "We know that when you combine smoking with other chemicals, it has a multiplier effect," Mitchell said.
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