Elevated Cancer Level Found in Pa.
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HAZLETON, Pa. — The federal government found an elevated number of cases of a rare blood cancer in northeastern Pennsylvania but uncovered no link to any possible cause in the environment.
The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry became involved after residents expressed concern about polycythemia (pah-lee-sy-THEE’-mee-ah) vera, or PCV, a cancer that results in the overproduction of red blood cells and can lead to heart attack or stroke.
“We did not find any environmental links to the PV cases we interviewed,” Vince Seaman, the lead researcher, said yesterday in an e-mail. “That doesn’t mean that there weren’t any — we just didn’t see anything with the information we collected.”
The agency reported on its findings Wednesday night at a heated community meeting at which residents of this low-income coal region accused the government of minimizing the threat posed by numerous environmental hazards, including a former toxic waste dump and waste coal-fired power plants.