Experts dismiss residents’ claims of cancer rates
Officials from the Mid Western Health Board (MWHB) and the National Cancer Registry (NCR) told a meeting in Rathkeale that there was no evidence of high cancer rates in Askeaton.
The Cappagh Farmers' Support Group (CFSG) has claimed there were 55 deaths from cancer three times the national average in a four and a half mile area of Askeaton.
Residents in Cappagh/Croagh believe the region is a cancer cluster as a result of industrial pollution. They say the incidence of cancer has almost doubled in the last two years and that the cluster was now spreading to surrounding regions.
However, new NCR data for the years 2000 and 2001 has revealed that cancer rates in the area are not higher than the rest of the mid-west region.
The MWHB's director of public health, Dr Kevin Kelleher, said the best international research methods reject the Cappagh group's findings.
"We have no hard evidence that this is happening, and until such time as the local people making the claims provide us with a detailed breakdown of their findings, we can't act on it," he said.
Dr Harry Comber from the NCR echoed this view and insisted the agency's findings were accurate. "The first thing that has to be accepted is that our data is correct. If that's established then we can look at other ways of examining these claims," he said.
A spokesman for the CFSG, Pat Geoghegan, said the NCR findings were out of date and failed to look specifically at the reputed cancer cluster.
"We will hand over our data if they have figures that are completely up to date.
"If we are still alive in a few years we will have no problem doing this," Mr Geoghegan said.
A €5.3 million EPA-led environmental investigation published in 2001 ruled out any link between industrial pollution and human and animal health problems in the area.
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