Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TRENTON -- State health officials say they were only following normal procedure when they issued an advisory to local health departments about the new movie, "A Civil Action."
"This is something we've done in the past," said Dennis J. McGowan, a spokesman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services. "We did it when there were several stories in the media about jimson weed. We anticipate that this could be a hot-button issue."
"A Civil Action" stars John Travolta as lawyer Jan Schlictmann, a personal injury lawyer who agreed to represent residents of Woburn, Mass., who believed polluted drinking water was the cause of their children's leukemia. The movie opened in New York and Los Angeles on Christmas Day, and will open nationwide Jan. 8.
In a cover letter sent to local health officials, Acting Senior Assistant Commissioner James S. Blumenstock says the department anticipates "considerable interest and inquiries from the New Jersey public about hazardous waste, drinking water, cancer (particularly leukemia and childhood cancer) and related environmental health issues." Included in the packet of information is a fact sheet prepared by the health department to answer inquiries about cancer in communities, a description of the state's cancer registry and how it works, and a February article from the Philadelphia Inquirer that discusses the difficulty of proving the existence of "cancer clusters."
Linda L. Gillick, executive director of Ocean of Love, a support group for parents of children with cancer, said she was angered by some of the wording contained in the packet.
The health department, along with the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, is spearheading a massive study into the possible causes of elevated rates of childhood cancers in Dover Township.
Health officials found 90 children had been diagnosed with cancer in Dover from 1979 through 1995, compared with the 67 cases they expected to find.
Last year, a group of Dover Township parents of children with cancer hired Schlictmann and two Cherry Hill lawyers to represent their interests.
The Dover study is not mentioned in the health department packet, but Gillick said she was not pleased with references to cancer cluster investigations contained in a health department fact sheet.
The fact sheet said cancer "clusters" most often are due to "random variation, even when unusually high or low rates can be statistically confirmed." The fact sheet also notes that despite "thousands of statistical analyses and countless intensive studies," of potential "cancer clusters," there has been only one investigation that identified a possible cause for increased cancer rates in a geographic area.
Gillick, who also chairs the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster, said she was disappointed that the health department would disseminate information questioning the existence of cancer clusters while the investigation in Dover is still continuing.
"Yes, they should send stuff out to make health officials better aware, so they can answer the public's questions," Gillick said. "But to provide them with information that basically says that cancer clusters don't exist, that is really pretty pathetic."
Schlictmann filed a civil suit in May 1982 on behalf of eight Woburn families whose children had died or had become sick with leukemia. The suit claimed that pollutants from W.R. Grace's chemical plant and Beatrice Foods' property -- site of the former John J. Riley Tannery -- in east Woburn had contaminated the town's well water and produced a leukemia cluster. The suit asked for compensatory and punitive damages.
By the time the trial was over, he had won $9 million in settlements for the families -- far less, he says, than what they deserved for the loss of their children.
In the summer of 1996, the Massachusetts Department of Health issued a report concluding that water from two Woburn wells had probably caused the children's deaths.
Source: Asbury Park Press
Published: December 31, 1998
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