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Researchers Search for Causes of Brain Cancer
National Brain Tumor Foundation sponsors groundbreaking international research consortium in search for causes of brain tumors.
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) February 19, 2005 -- Cell phones, power lines, and diet have all been investigated as possible causes of brain tumors yet definitive answers continue to elude scientists. Each year, the public interest in wanting to know the causes of cancer grow yet research has been slow in finding answers. As a way of increasing our understanding of brain tumors and focusing more attention on causes, the National Brain Tumor Foundation is supporting a new international consortium of brain tumor researchers who hope to combine forces to better answers the question “What Causes Brain Tumors?” The purpose of this group, named the BTEC or the Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium, is to develop multi-center collaborations that can lead to a better understanding of the causes, outcomes and prevention of brain tumors through strategic partnerships.
“We are excited about supporting this group of researchers” says Robert Tufel, MSW,MPH, Executive Director of the National Brain Tumor Foundation, “because we believe that this type of collaborative science will help focus attention on the causes of brain tumors and lead us more quickly to finding answers.”
BTEC members come from research centers across the United States as well as Sweden, Israel and Canada and represent a dedicated group of researchers all seeking the same goal – to better understand what causes tumors to grow in the brain.
“Furthering our knowledge of the causes and risk factors through collaborative research can lead to better treatments, outcomes and prevention of all brain tumors” states Dr. Jill Barnholtz Sloan Assistant Professor at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, Florida and one of the organizers of BTEC.
Each year over 190,000 people in the United States and 10,000 people in Canada are diagnosed with a primary or metastatic brain tumor. There are over 120 different types of brain tumors, making effective treatment very complicated. Worldwide, brain tumor incidence is increasing. The key to fighting this difficult disease is related to finding out what causes brain tumors and to supporting patients once they are diagnosed.
The National Brain Tumor Foundation, which supports the BTEC and research into the causes of brain tumors, raises funds for research and provides support and information free to patients and family members. The NBTF patient information line (800.934.CURE) and web site, www.braintumor.org, receive more than 1,000 inquires each month requesting assistance and support.
For more information contact the National Brain Tumor Foundation at 1.800.934.2873 or visit www.braintumor.org.
State urged to clear air on toxics' risks
Residents are confused after environmental officials downplay cancer threat alert
By DINA CAPPIELLO
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
March 7, 2005 - Joe Padilla didn't need a report by state environmental officials to tell him that toxic air pollution is a problem in some parts of Harris County. With friends in east Houston and family in Baytown and Pasadena always complaining about the chemicals, for years he has known there was a risk.
So when the state issued a report in January saying that levels of 1,3-butadiene and benzene in 2003 in some areas were high enough to increase the chances of cancer if inhaled over a lifetime, Padilla said, he felt vindicated and thought once and for all the problem would be solved.
"It's been around, but it finally was getting some attention," said Padilla, 69, a Denver Harbor resident and longtime community activist.
That was until he attended his local civic club meeting last week, where Texas Commission on Environmental Quality officials, in their first meeting with the public, said the toxins it detected in Houston's air did not pose an immediate health threat.
Cancer was barely mentioned by the eight staff members present, and the 20 or so people gathered were told that the levels of 1,3-butadiene detected were not an immediate threat, so "we have time to work on the problem."
Padilla said the agency's emphasis was a smokescreen.
"You are doing good now after you got a lot of heat," Padilla told the officials. "By you coming here, you are trying to put smoke over everything. It does cause cancer."
Padilla said the information presented Tuesday was completely different from what he heard a scientist say at the town hall meeting last month that state environmental officials skipped.
"At Milby, they did admit butadiene and benzene caused cancer, although maybe it was one person in a population of 1 million," Padilla said. "Over here, at the civic club, this guy was saying there was no danger. It was two different meetings about two different topics."
More meetings planned
The TCEQ plans to visit all 14 civic clubs on the Houston Ship Channel in the next two months at the request of Democratic state Sen. Mario Gallegos and other Houston delegates.
The first of seven meetings scheduled was held last week at Padilla's club in Denver Harbor. The next is scheduled for Tuesday night at the Greater Eastwood/Lawndale Superneighborhood.
What legislators didn't control was the agency's message — which downplays the concern of the initial report and the associated cancer risks discussed at the town hall meeting, according to Padilla and others who reviewed the presentation.
Michael Honeycutt, head of the TCEQ's toxicology division, said in an e-mail after the meeting that the cancer risks stated in the January report were "overpredictive." He said one could assume that concentrations of 1,3-butadiene were lower in the community because it was farther away from the industrial sources of the emissions than the pollution monitor.
Warnings about data
Also, the risk estimates calculated didn't reflect that people spend only 10 percent of their time outdoors.
"We were not trying to do an actual risk assessment," he said. "We were trying to find out what areas had higher levels of toxic chemicals as compared to other areas."
At Tuesday's meeting, he cautioned the 20 attendees about what could and couldn't be inferred by looking at the data, and he detailed how the state was increasing monitoring in the area and inspections.
Cancer-cluster analyses performed by the state Health Department have shown that cancer in the area is no higher than other places in Texas. And according to Honeycutt, the levels detected in Milby Park are much lower than those shown to cause leukemia in workers.
Texas City questions study
It wasn't the first time that the TCEQ has downplayed findings of increased cancer risk publicly. In a 2001 report on air pollution monitoring in Texas City, the agency concluded that if the benzene levels that were measured were ``recurrent, they . . . can pose an increased risk of cancers such as leukemia.''
After the report came out, a letter from then-Texas City Mayor Carlos Garza's office obtained by the Chronicle said the analysis "has the propensity to precipitate an unjustified overreaction" and that while the facts appeared accurate "the narrative has unnecessary and borderline inflammatory remarks."
Doug Hoover, Texas City's executive director of management services, who wrote the letter, said the TCEQ responded by holding a public meeting.
"They didn't say they did anything blatantly wrong," Hoover recalled. "But they suggested the results of the study could be worded differently."
The careful wording chosen at the Tuesday night Denver Harbor meeting left some members confused.
"Obviously, there is a lot of concern, which sets off red flags," said Roy Zermeno, another meeting attendee. "Something has triggered it. But what is going to happen after all of this? The TCEQ only gave us three phone numbers."
TCEQ officials said they were just following instructions given to them by Houston-area politicians and it was not their responsibility — but the civic club's — to publicize the event.
"We don't necessarily want the whole city to be at their neighborhood meeting," said TCEQ spokesman Andy Saenz. "We will do any kind of meeting people want down here."
Gallegos said he will look into the meetings' content.
"If they didn't talk about cancer, it surprises me," Gallegos said. "They should at least put everything on the table to the community."
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