Clyde cancer cluster top priority

CLYDE - The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio Department of Health came to Clyde with a strong message Tuesday night.

"I have told my staff this is now my number one issue," said EPA director Chris Korleski.

He said as far as he is concerned, the other issues the agency deals with -- including garbage dump fires and industrial companies in non-compliance -- pale in comparison to the high number of childhood cancer cases in Clyde.

"I can't imagine what the families who have been affected by this have gone through and are going through," Korleski said.

He told about 100 Clyde-Green Springs area residents he normally doesn't discuss personal matters in his role as EPA director. He did, however, want to share with residents he and his wife almost lost their 11-year-old daughter to an illness when she was 2.

"I remember the fear, the tears, the pain, the rage of what that experience was like. I'll never forget," he said.

"It was the worst experience of my life. And I think that pales to what these people here are going through."

Department of Health director Alvin Jackson echoed Korleski's commitment to try to get to the bottom of what is causing cancer in area children. As a former resident of Sandusky County, the more than 18 cases of childhood cancer are of particular interest to him, he said.

"This is family for me. This is home, so I'm taking the whole situation very personal," Jackson said.

Korleski and Jackson were part of a cooperative presentation with the Sandusky County Health Department at Clyde High School.

Korleski told residents environmental monitoring of air and water in the Clyde-Green Springs area would begin as soon as January.

Dr. Robert Indian, chief of the comprehensive cancer program at ODH, presented the data he gathered since he started studying the cancer cluster in 2006.

He said the rate of adult cancer cases in Sandusky County reflected the rate observed across the state. Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in Ohio, and one in three Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes.

Though adult cancer cases in the county don't raise alarms, the number of childhood cancer cases do -- particularly in Clyde and Greek Creek Township.

The types of cancer vary. The children affected are different ages, and they come from different neighborhoods.

"The truth is, we don't know what causes the vast majority of childhood cancer cases," Indian said.

Realistically, the odds are against the Clyde community ever knowing what is causing childhood cancer at disturbing rates, he said.

But that hasn't deterred the agencies from investigating.

Indian said an analysis of where the children live, and where they have spent their time since birth, will be ready in late April. The EPA has already gone through its own records to look for any carcinogenic emissions produced by local companies or dumps.

Korleski said the record search didn't turn up any red flags.

Based on his more than 20 years of environmental research experience, he is surprised at the high number of childhood cancer cases in Clyde. Compared to areas in Cleveland and Mahoning County, the air and water are much cleaner, he said.

Shannon Nabors, chief of the northwest district of the EPA, said air and water monitoring will continue in the area from January until a representative sample has been collected. Sites will be at various locations, and testing will be unannounced.

She said even if nothing is found, it will give the community peace of mind to know that air and water in Clyde are safe.

Indian emphasized the agencies will the let the data from the environmental testing and the spatial analysis lead the way in the coming months.

(The Sandusky Register is a FOXToledo.com media affiliate)