Cancer cluster caused by dirty power in school?

\I have attached a very interesting paper relating the presence of
dirty power to a cancer cluster in a school.

The newspaper article about the cluster below can be found at the
following link:
http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbc...WS04/704270363
La Quinta Middle School's cancer scare
Parents demand answer from district on cluster controversy

Crystal Chatham, The Desert Sun
Sue Karr (red shirt), who taught at La Quinta Middle School for 15
years, makes comments during a community information meeting held
Thursday, April 26, at La Quinta Community Center regarding a possible
cancer cluster at the middle school.


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Mandy Zatynski
The Desert Sun
April 27, 2007
A community meeting Thursday night intended to inform La Quinta Middle
School teachers and parents about an alleged cancer cluster at the
school turned into a heated exchange with a sole district
representative.

Parents and La Quinta school staff talked over each other, clamoring
for answers from Desert Sands Unified School District Deputy
Superintendent Charlene Whitlinger.

An epidemiologist and an electronic engineer claim a cancer cluster
exists at the school - 18 cancer diagnoses have been made since the
school's opening in 1988. Superintendent Doris Wilson, who was not
present at the meeting, disputed the claim Wednesday.

La Quinta Middle is a school of 895 students in sixth through eighth
grades with 64 adult employees, including 31 teachers.

Whitlinger said the district has spent about $100,000 to test the air,
water, soil and radioactivity in the school, and officials have come
up with nothing significant.

Many of the staff and families at the La Quinta Community Center
didn't buy it Thursday night.

"If something happens to my son, I'm going to come after you. You can
bet that," parent Bertha Estrada yelled, pointing her finger. Her son
now is at La Quinta High School. She said she is going to request to
transfer her daughter to another school.

"I'm afraid. I'm very afraid," she said.

Whitlinger eventually walked out, unable to speak without
interruption, amidst audience comments of "Sit down!," "Bye!" and
"Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

At a news conference before the meeting, Whitlinger said that no one
has yet considered the pre-existing health status of the cancer
victims at La Quinta Middle nor environmental factors, like the sun,
in the Coachella Valley.

"We live in a sun belt," she said, noting her own bout with skin
cancer.

Dr. Sam Milham, a part-time Indio resident and epidemiologist who
worked for state health departments in Washington and New York for 40
years, said four of the 18 diagnoses are melanoma. That was the
highest repeated cancer in all of the diagnoses. The rest include
breast, uterine, thyroid, colon, pancreatic and ovarian cancers.

Milham and his colleague, Lloyd Morgan, a retired electrical engineer
and director of the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States,
blame the incidences of cancer on "dirty power" emitted from modern
electrical equipment.

Thirteen of the 51 rooms at the school "maxed out" their meter for
"dirty power." District officials question the validity of that tool.

In an open letter dated April 17 to parents and the community posted
on the district's Web site, the district calls it a "subject of
considerable controversy and skepticism in the scientific community."

Morgan admitted afterward that he cannot pinpoint the exact source or
cause of "dirty power," which can be emitted from computers, printers,
modems and other common office equipment.

The California Department of Health Services, which studied the
school, should deliver a final report of its findings within the
month.

"The batting average on cancer clusters is one that people would not
like it to be," said Ken August, spokesman for the California
Department of Health Services. "Cancer is unfortunately much more
common than many people believe."

On average, one of every two men develops some form of cancer in his
life, August said. One of out every three women does the same.

It often might be chance - or bad luck - when several cancers pop up
in one area, he said.

"It's extremely difficult to identify a cause even if it is determined
that a cancer cluster exists," August said.

For some teachers, the threat is enough.

Mary Loe, who teaches sixth-grade science at La Quinta Middle, moved
her students twice this year to get away from room 304 - a space next
to an electrical supply area.

In August 2006, district officials told board members they would build
an electrical shield.

That never happened, Loe said.

Whitlinger said Thursday she thought room 304 was used for storage.

Loe went to the emergency room with anxiety and high blood pressure
problems April 13. She said she doesn't plan to return this school
year.

"I feel betrayed," she said.

Multimedia

What does it mean?
CANCER CLUSTER
A cluster is a higher-than-expected number of cancer diagnoses in one
area or within a group of people over a period of time, according to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A cancer cluster is more likely if all of the reported cases consist
of one type of cancer - a rare type or a type that is not usually
found in an age group.

DIRTY POWER
"Dirty power" is an industry term also referred to as "electrical
smog" or "electrical pollution." The high frequency transients are the
"fuzz," or oscillating spikes, that occur when electricity is turned
on or off very rapidly, according to information disseminated by La
Quinta Middle School teachers.
Sources of this "dirty power" include computers, printers, audio
equipment, florescent lights and dimmer switches.

MICROSURGE II METER
It measures "dirty power" by looking at the rate of change in the
oscillating spikes. Dr. Sam Milham, a local physician-epidemiologist,
and Dr. Raymond Neutra of the California Department of Health Services
used the tool during their research.
Desert Sands Unified School District officials say they don't trust
it. In an open letter to parents April 17, they call it "the subject
of considerable controversy and skepticism in the scientific
community."

LQMS cancer cases
Since the school's opening in 1988 until 2006, 16 teachers were
diagnosed with a total of 18 cases of cancer.
Malignant melanoma: 4 cases
Other primary cancer: 14 cases
Total: 18 cases
Women: 10 teachers (average age at diagnosis: 50.5 years)
Men: 6 teachers (average age at diagnosis: 47.7 years)
Total: 16 teachers
Employed less than three years: 4 cases
Employed more than three years:14 cases


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"Mike Vandeman" wrote in message
...

Thirteen of the 51 rooms at the school "maxed out" their meter for
"dirty power." District officials question the validity of that tool.


This single paragraph, but only one two sentence, provides the only
information to support the assertion.

It seems to me that the study should include measurements of other schools
and compare the results to other possible clusters.