Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JOSEPH PICARD
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
DOVER TOWNSHIP -- Teachers and students at Ocean County College are no more likely to be stricken with cancer than people anywhere else in New Jersey, according to state health officials.
"We can now say with assurance that the number of cancer cases at OCC shows a similarity with cancer cases occurring in the adult population nationwide," OCC President Jon Larson said yesterday at a news conference to introduce the results of the state's cancer study at the campus.
The college asked for the state's assistance in March, after Larson learned that three faculty members who use the Instructional Building had been diagnosed with different forms of cancer at roughly the same time.
The student newspaper, the Viking News, reported that at least 20 faculty and staff members had contracted cancer since the 1980s. Karen Bosley, professor of humanities and adviser to the paper, did an unofficial count and found 33 cases of cancer among people who worked on campus, mostly among faculty members, in the past 20 years. She said that 19 had died.
The state finding presented yesterday is a compilation of eight reports produced by the state Department of Health and Human Services from April 22 to July 2. Seven of the reports are studies by the state Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health program, one for each of seven campus buildings inspected for possible carcinogens and other health hazards. The other report is the result of an epidemiological study conducted by the state's Cancer Epidemiological Services, matching OCC staff medical histories against the New Jersey State Cancer Registry.
Steven Pomerantz, a research scientist for the building studies, said the results show the facilities pose little threat to people using them.
"We looked at indoor air quality, exposure to asbestos and exposure to carcinogens," Pomerantz said. "In general, we found nothing unusual, nothing that we would not expect to find in a public building."
Pomerantz said inspectors found no exposed asbestos and no exposure of staff or students to carcinogenic substances. Mold was found in several buildings, and the college was quick to remedy the situation, Pomerantz said.
The buildings inspected are the Instructional Building, the W. Kable Russell Building, Administrative Services Building, Nursing Arts, Office of Information Technology, Health and Physical Education and Fine Arts.
Judith B. Klotz conducted the epidemiological study.
"We did not note any unusual patterns of cancer among the employees . . . that would indicate the need for in-depth analysis of further data," Klotz said.
Klotz said the numbers and distribution of cancers detected by matching OCC faculty health histories with the state cancer registry "are consistent with a healthy working population."
Richard Strada, professor of government and politics at OCC, said he was pleased with the news and with how the college treated faculty and student concerns.
"I feel reassured that President Larson addressed this issue and kept it in the open," Strada said. "He did not try to sweep it under the rug. . . . This is not a cooked study."
Strada called the state report a "relatively clean bill of health" and commended it for prompting the school to clean up the mold problem.
Published in the Asbury Park Press 8/29/02
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