Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JOSEPH PICARD
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
DOVER TOWNSHIP -- A state probe at Ocean County College for possible sources of cancer is raising concern among students and faculty.
"I've heard that over 30 teachers and staff members have gotten cancer since the school's been open, and that half of them have died," said Jeffrey Purchal, a sophomore from the Bayville section of Berkeley. "I don't think it's a coincidence."
Karen Bosley, a professor of humanities and adviser to the school newspaper, the Viking News, said: "When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1988, I did not think that it might have been caused by my work environment. But I have thought about it since. Sometimes, I will sit here at my job and wonder if I am still exposed."
Last week, the Asbury Park Press reported that the state, at OCC's request, had begun environmental inspections of the campus and an epidemiological study of the faculty and staff, seeking possible cancer sources.
OCC President Jon H. Larson said at the time that the college seemed to have a "rather high incidence of faculty and staff diagnosed with cancer in a relatively short period of time."
Larson addressed a letter to students and staff explaining the probes by the state Department of Health and Senior Services. In yesterday's edition of the Viking News, a weekly publication, the president's letter ran, as did an editorial saying that, whether a source of cancer was located on campus or not, "the fact remains people many of us know and admire are ill and fighting a terrible disease."
The Viking News said at least 20 members of the faculty and staff have contracted cancer. Bosley did an unofficial count and found 33 cases of cancer among mostly faculty members in the last 20 years. She said that 19 of that number had died.
Larson said that the recent cancer diagnoses of three faculty members at roughly the same time prompted him to contact the state this March. But Larson said he did not have a list or a number of cancer cases.
Dan Wartenberg, an epidemiologist at the Environmental and Occupational Health Services Institute in Piscataway, which is affiliated with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, is assisting OCC in collecting and analyzing data for the state's investigation.
"I do not concern myself with speculation and conjecture," Wartenberg said, when asked how many cancer cases there may be. "My intent is gather the data and get an answer to the people involved as quickly as possible."
Wartenberg noted that the state is currently doing Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health, or PEOSH, studies in the buildings and on the grounds at OCC, looking for possible carcinogenic sources. Meanwhile, the epidemiological probe is just beginning.
"Our first step will be to match the members of faculty and staff against the New Jersey Cancer registry, which was set up in 1979," Wartenberg said. "We'll then be able to see how many had cancer. We will then look into what types of cancer they had and their ages when they contracted the disease."
Wartenberg said his analysis will be aimed at determining whether there is anything unusual about the number of cancer cases at OCC. If a higher incidence is found to exist at OCC, then the probe will concentrate on a possible common cause, he said.
Wartenberg said how long the study will take depends upon how quickly the state moves with the data it receives from the college.
Purchal said that the school administration, which has been focusing the probe on faculty and staff, should also consider the student body. About 7,000 students attend OCC.
"There ought to be some fair criteria so that they can inspect the students, too, for possible disease," he said.
Published in the Asbury Park Press 5/10/02
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