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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 1998 0204 CC REG ITEM 11H3 85 . ec, ITEM • 4 • CITY OF MOORPARY, CALIFORNIA City Council Meeting CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Ll A TO: The Honorable City Council BY:_ •S . �Lih , --,.,D FROM: John E. Nowak, Assistant City Manage DATE: 28 January 1998 (Council meeting of 02- 04 -98) SUBJECT: Resident's Concern Regarding Potential Cancer Cluster Background: At the January 21 Council meeting, Councilman Evans requested that a matter be placed on the next Council agenda. He indicated that a resident had contacted him regarding a number of cancer cases that were identified within a small geographical area of the City. The Councilman's desire was to present the matter for Council's discussion and decision on any actions. Discussion: Staff has contacted the Tri- Counties Regional Cancer Registry in Santa Barbara to inquire if they are aware of any specific issue of cancer cluster in the City of Moorpark and what actions might be undertaken either by the Registry or the City. Dr. Nasseri of the Registry indicated that the overall rate of incidents of cancer is 409 per 100,000 population per year. Whether the situation in Moorpark is within those general parameters will require additional research. Dr. Nasseri indicated he will undertake such research and have a report available within 30 days. An article on this concern was published in the January 22 issue of the Moorpark Star, and a copy is attached. Recommendation: That the City Council defer any action until the report is presented from Dr. Nasseri of the Tri- Counties Regional Cancer Registry. Attached: Newspaper article 001U141 O Moorpark City Council to review man's cancer concern Y COINCIDENCE? By Steve Silkin Staff writer and, if so, what can be done about it. "We're cases in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara Five cases reported on The Moorpark City Council will review a resident's that five just going to look at it and see if there is a concern or a potential problem," and Ventura County, said cancer is more common than people believe, one street' concern cases, of can- cer have been reported recently on one Evans said Thursday. `What we need to do is to be responsive to the people there. If there The concern is' quite,understandable,' =, he said. "The truth of the matters is thst doctor says street of about 15 homes.. :.; Councilman Chris Evans asked city ad- is a problem, we need to iden t ify and mitigate ' the risk. It may prove there's not a concern. ,cancer is not a very rare disease." Recent statistics shoVi'one out of two clusters can muustrators on Wednesday to put the issue. on the agenda for the. next council meeting But I did want to formalize it with.the council so that -we could respond in a formal manrnen "_- iJ.S. men :will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes, and one out of' three occur by on Feb. 4. He said he .wants to consider Dr. Wumarss Nass&i, epidemiologist at ".woolen. chance. forming a committee to determine whether the Tri- Counties Regional Cancer Registry the number of cases is higher than average in Santa Barbara, which documents cancer Please see CITY COUNCIL on #6 —� - -- - C3t -22-q$ 411. _ CITY COUNCIL Cancer concern r Continued from Al That's the delicate balance." He said he can analyze streets Evans' questions arose after he was contacted by a man who told and neighborhoods in any of the tlue cpu ties to cpPapare . ahem him there ,were 13 cases of cancer in the Mountain Meadows-.area. - statistically,'i other streets. After se�€ea lk Yeats.'at the; registry, he The, man, who spoke Thurs "Oy on condition of �anoayn ,, said tie kaQws of ruoxses of .cancer clus- �n Ventura County had heard about the 13 case I RUiot Landavg in'the depart - around :one .elementary school ih - the Mountain Meadows area, but memt pf biomathematics at UCL,'s, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer was most concerned about `four of the five cases on his street and oth- Center said it's difficult to: deter- ers in the neighborhood reported mine if clusters occur by chance or over the past year Two residents are caused by other factors. These had lymphoma, two had colon can - could include environment, lifestyle cer and one had melanoma. All the or even "recall bias," which lead patients were under 50, he said. people to find out about more cases The man said he hoped he could near.them after they begin asking find out the average rate for cancer. about the disease. "Clusters, will 'occur just by ,chance in a street or neighborhood. "Then we'll be able to compare;' alone," Landaw'said. "But because you find one doesn't mean occurred he said. "If we're 10 times the limit, then we've got something to worry, it just by chance alone. about."