Cancer Clusters by Samone Parker-Watson

According to Florida Trend website, cancer is the number one killer in Florida since 2011. In “High number of cancer cases found in 2 ZIP codes, Florida Health Report Shows,” Jim Waymer writes about the data findings concerning possible cancer clusters in Florida Today. He focuses on two ZIP code areas, 32937 concerning Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach, and South Patrick Shores and 32940 concerning Suntree, Palm Shores and Viera. While there are no charts in his article, he states some data on the amount of cancer cases that emerged. For instance,  within the 32937 area between 1995 and 2005, a higher than expected number of cases for bladder cancer in men (106 cases with 80 expected) and women (37 cases with 23-24 expected). Also for the 32940 area, 50 leukemia cases occurred between 1996 and 2005 when only 28-29 cases were expected. He mentions other types of cancers that affected many people within theses areas and the public response to the information. Furthermore, many are linking these cancer outbreaks to the chemicals that were used in the firefighting foams at Patrick Air Force and other military bases. While the article doesn’t offer enough evidence to prove a cancer cluster, I think what is presented shows that there may be a correlation between the exposure to chemicals from military bases to rises in cancer. Waymer’s article reminds me of what Dan Fagin speaks about in his book on Toms River. Cancer clusters seem to happen rarely and it takes a long time to gather the information to determine the cause and who’s responsible. In the meantime, estimated new cases of cancer in 2019 is up to 131,470 in Florida with estimated deaths being around 45,000 according to the American Cancer Society.

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/environment/2019/05/02/florida-health-officials-release-brevard-cancer-investigation/3618406002/

https://www.floridatrend.com/article/26203/the-fight-against-cancer-in-florida-statistics

https://cancerstatisticscenter.cancer.org/#!/state/Florida

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