Area’s Cancer Rates Analyzed; Mountain View Residents Studied

Rates of some forms of cancer are higher than researchers expected in the South Valley neighborhood of Mountain View.

That does not necessarily mean there is more cancer there than other parts of the state, a state health official said.

Charles Wiggins from the New Mexico Tumor Registry said according to 15 years of cancer data compiled in a statewide study, the Mountain View area is in line with the state, with breast or prostate, lung, colorectal, bladder and uterus being the most frequent forms.

Wiggins said researchers based their expectations on rates in surrounding Bernalillo County.

"Mountain View is not unique in its cancer rates," Wiggins said Tuesday at a presentation on cancer rates in the mostly industrial area of the South Valley. The Mountain View community has approximately 4,300 residents.

According to Bernalillo County, Mountain View is home to two Superfund sites, seven petroleum bulk-fuel terminals and 35 other hazardous waste facilities, more than 25 auto recycling yards, five gravel and concrete companies, a solid-waste landfill, a fertilizer factory and a chicken farm.

About two dozen people attended the meeting at the Mountain View Community Center. The presentation was hosted by the South Valley Partners for Environmental Justice and the New Mexico Department of Health.

Wiggins said the Mountain View area is the first New Mexico community to be chosen for an analysis of cancer rates because of strong community interest.

He said the state will analyze the data further for Mountain View, looking at more precise factors, such as age or time frames.

Vivian Doak, a Mountain View resident, disagrees there was strong community interest in another study.

"My neighborhood is tired of being studied like guinea pigs," Doak said. "I am not sure this is something that will help us stay alive." Doak said residents are concerned about cancer, but they want answers, not studies.

Bianca Encinias, from the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice, said the information is important because if a link between environmental factors and cancer is made, it can be used to keep future heavy industry out of the neighborhood.

The overall study of New Mexico cancer rates is being funded by the Centers for Disease Control. The study geocodes, or maps, cancer patients to where they live. In the future, researchers hope to be able to take the data and link it to environmental factors such as air and water quality.

Wiggins said in cancers occurring between 1988 and 2002 in the Mountain View area 14 out of 20 types exceeded researchers’ expectations. Lung, skin melanoma, leukemia, thyroid, pancreas, oral cavity, kidney, bladder, ovary, liver, stomach, cervix and myeloma cancer rates were higher in the Mountain View area than researchers expected. Prostate, breast, colorectal, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, uterine and esophagus cancers were lower than expected. Wiggins said the numbers are not perfect but they are a good place to start.

"We all know somebody who has had cancer," Wiggins said. "There are not just numbers they are people."

Wiggins said when someone in New Mexico is diagnosed, with any type of cancer, information about the cancer, where they live and other factors are entered in the New Mexico Tumor Registry.

Wiggins asked residents attending the meeting what types of cancer they were most concerned about.

They said prostate, leukemia, lung, thyroid and brain cancer topped their concerns.

Wiggins said as the study moves forward, researchers hope to be able to track clusters of cancers such as a high number of cases in a short time period within a specific community or in a specific age group. "If we saw some clustering in time or age group, we would want to explore it further," Wiggins said. "We would look at some of the elevated rates and see what environmental toxins can cause that type of cancer."