By GLYNIS HART
[email protected]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — New Hampshire’s representatives in Washington, D.C. continue to send letters to the feds calling for more research on the causes of a cancer cluster in the Seacoast area, especially into possible links beween pediatric cancer and a group of chemicals used in many industrial products, including firefighting foam, water-repellent fabrics, and paints.
New Hampshire has the highest pediatric cancer rate in the country: 205 cases per 100,000 people. Washington, D.C. and New Jersey have the next highest rates.
Friday, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Reps. Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) and Annie Kuster (NH-02), requested the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to focus research on a potential connection between exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and pediatric cancer.
In June 2016, during her time as governor, Hassan formed a task force to coordinate federal, state, and local community stakeholders in sharing information and strategies to address pediatric cancer in the state. An earlier study found that although medical practitioners believe environmental causes are a large factor in pediatric cancer, few pediatric oncologists discuss this with parents, and environmental concerns are not integrated into children’s treatment.
A study released in April 2017 confirmed the cluster of pediatric cancer in a 10-town area in the Seacoast region. The study reported the high number of children with cancer, but was not extensive enough to find a cause. PFAS are used in hundreds of industrial applications.
In April, representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency visited Exeter to speak with the community there about PFAS.
In July, the New Hampshire delegation of Hassan, Shaheen, Kuster, and Shea-Porter sent a letter to Alex Azar, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) requesting action on the problem. That letter read, in part: “In light of the potential for contaminants and environmental factors to contribute to rising pediatric cancer rates, we strongly encourage the department and its subagencies to continue to examine potential links.” The letter asked for any information the department might have on contributing factors to pediatric cancers in New Hampshire that may differ from contributing factors in other states; details of any actions the DHHS was planning to take to address pediatric cancer rates, and details of any public information available for Granite Staters seeking information on pediatric cancers.
In September the director of NIEHS, Linda Birnbaum, testified at a committee hearing that the agency has not begun to investigate potential links between pediatric cancer and exposure to PFAS.
The four women legislators’ most recent letter, released this Friday reads, in part: “New Hampshire parents are extremely concerned about what exposure to PFAS chemicals means for the health and safety of their children. As this administration moves forward with the nationwide health study on PFAS, we urge NIEHS to work with relevant environmental and health agencies to determine whether environmental contamination from this family of chemicals is a contributing factor to incidences of pediatric cancer found in New Hampshire and across the nation.”
HHS Secretary Alex Azar released a letter September 24 stating that the department is reallocating $13.3 million from the National Cancer Institute, $16.7 million from the Centers for Disease Control, and $87.3 million from the National Institutes of Health to pay for detention of immigrant children.
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