Study finds elevated rates of cancer in Crestwood (Ill)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-met-crestwood-cancer-20100305,0,2106398.story


Researchers unable to make definite link to tainted water some residents unknowingly drank for years


Cancer rates are "significantly elevated" in Crestwood, according to a new state report that focuses on a south suburb where residents unwittingly drank contaminated water for more than two decades.

Prompted by a Tribune investigation that revealed the village's secret use of its tainted well, the Illinois Department of Public Health looked at cancer cases in Crestwood between 1994 and 2006 and found higher-than-expected cases of kidney cancer in men, lung cancer in men and women, and gastrointestinal cancer in men.

In a report to be released Friday, researchers determined it was possible that toxic chemicals in the drinking water caused the extra cancer cases, but they could not make a definite link. Other factors could be involved, too, or it could be a statistical blip in the working-class community of about 11,000.

As with nearly all studies of cancer clusters across the nation, specific causes are difficult, if not impossible, to determine. But the Crestwood situation is still different than most other cancer investigations.

"We are dealing with a situation where we have known exposure," said Ken Runkle, a state health department toxicologist. "That means we can view these elevated cancer levels in a different light."

Kidney cancer in particular is associated with exposure to perchloroethylene, also known as PCE or perc, a common dry-cleaning solvent that years ago leached into Crestwood's well. Research also links lung and some types of gastrointestinal cancer to perc and related chemicals, which state officials first detected in the well water in 1985.

Crestwood officials avoided scrutiny for years by telling residents and regulators that the village relied exclusively on treated Lake Michigan water. But records show they kept using the polluted well for up to 20 percent of the drinking water pumped to residents.

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In response to the Tribune investigation, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., urged federal and state health officials to take a closer look at Crestwood. Gov. Pat Quinn also demanded an investigation as part of a broader effort to ensure that citizens get more information about water contamination in their communities.
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