Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 15, 2010

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5

Public Safety & Health

Mountain Views News Saturday, May 15, 2010

Sierra Madre Police Blotter

President’s Cancer Panel: 

Environmentally caused cancers are ‘grossly underestimated’ 
and ‘needlessly devastate American lives.’

“The true burden of environmentally induced 
cancers has been grossly underestimated,” 
says the President’s Cancer Panel in a strongly 
reported report that urges action to reduce 
people’s widespread exposure to carcinogens. 
The panel today advised President Obama 
“to use the power of your office to remove the 
carcinogens and other toxins from our food, 
water, and air that needlessly increase health 
care costs, cripple our nation’s productivity, and 
devastate American lives.”

 The President's Cancer Panel on 
Thursday reported that "the true burden of 
environmentally induced cancers has been 
grossly underestimated" and strongly urged 
action to reduce people's widespread exposure 
to carcinogens.

The panel advised President Obama "to use the 
power of your office to remove the carcinogens 
and other toxins from our food, water, and air 
that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple 
our nation's productivity, and 
devastate American lives."

 The 240-page report by the 
President's Cancer Panel is the 
first to focus on environmental 
causes of cancer. The panel, 
created by an act of Congress 
in 1971, is charged with 
monitoring the multi-billion-
dollar National Cancer 
Program and reports directly 
to the President every year. 

 Environmental exposures "do not represent 
a new front in the ongoing war on cancer. 
However, the grievous harm from this group of 
carcinogens has not been addressed adequately 
by the National Cancer Program," the panel said 
in its letter to Obama that precedes the report. 
"The American people – even before they are 
born – are bombarded continually with myriad 
combinations of these dangerous exposures."

The panel, appointed by President Bush, told 
President Obama that the federal government is 
missing the chance to protect people from cancer 
by reducing their exposure to carcinogens. In 
its letter, the panel singled out bisphenol A, a 
chemical used in polycarbonate plastic and can 
linings that is unregulated in the United States, 
as well as radon, formaldehyde and benzene.

"The increasing number of known or suspected 
environmental carcinogens compels us to action, 
even though we may currently lack irrefutable 
proof of harm." - Dr. LaSalle D. Lefall, Jr., chair 
of the President's Cancer PanelEnvironmental 
health scientists were pleased by the findings, 
saying it embraces everything that they have 
been saying for years.

Richard Clapp, a professor of environmental 
health at Boston University's School of Public 
Health and one of the nation's leading cancer 
epidemiologists, called the report "a call to 
action."

 Environmental and occupational exposures 
contribute to "tens of thousands of cancer cases 
a year," Clapp said. "If we had any calamity that 
produced tens of thousands of deaths or serious 
diseases, that’s a national emergency in my 
view.”

 The American Cancer Society issued a 
statement Thursday agreeing with much of the 
report but taking issue with the part about how 
environmentally induced cancers are "grossly 
underestimated." [Editor's Note: American 
Cancer Society comments added May 7, 2010]

"Unfortunately, the perspective of the report is 
unbalanced by its implication that pollution is 
the major cause of cancer," said Dr. Michael J. 
Thun, the society's vice president emeritus of 
Epidemiology & Surveillance Research. He said 
the report gave short shrift to "the major known 
causes of cancer," including tobacco, obesity, 
sunlight and alcohol. 

 "There is no doubt that environmental 
pollution is critically important to the health 
of humans and the planet. However, it would 
be unfortunate if the effect of this report were 
to trivialize the importance of other modifiable 
risk factors that, at present, offer the greatest 
opportunity in preventing cancer," Thun said.

 The two-member panel – Dr. LaSalle D. Lefall, 
Jr., a professor of surgery at Howard University 
and Margaret Kripke, a professor at University 
of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center – was 
appointed by President Bush to three-year terms.

Lefall and Kripke concluded that action is 
necessary to reduce exposures, even though in 
many cases there is scientific uncertainty about 
whether certain chemicals cause cancer. That 
philosophy, called the precautionary principle, is 
highly controversial among scientists, regulators 
and industry.

 "The increasing number of known or suspected 
environmental carcinogens compels us to action, 
even though we may currently lack irrefutable 
proof of harm," Lefall, who is chair of the panel, 
said in a statement.

The two panelists met with nearly 50 medical 
experts in late 2008 and early 2009 before writing 
their report to the president. Cyclist and cancer 
survivor Lance Armstrong previously served on 
the panel, but did not work on this year's report.

 The report recommends raising consumer 
awareness of the risks posed by chemicals 
in food, air, water and consumer products, 
bolstering research of the health effects and 
tightening regulation of chemicals that might 
cause cancer or other diseases.

 They also urged doctors to use caution in 
prescribing CT scans and other medical imaging 
tests that expose patients to large amounts of 
radiation. In 2007, 69 million CT scans were 
performed, compared with 18 million in 1993. 
Patients who have a chest CT scan receive a dose 
of radiation in the same range as survivors of the 
Hiroshima atomic bomb attacks who were less 
than half a mile from ground zero, the report 
says.

 The panel also criticized the U.S. military, saying 
that "it is a major source of toxic occupational 
and environmental exposures that can increase 
cancer risk." Examples cited include Camp 
Lejeune in North Carolina, where carcinogenic 
solvents contaminate drinking water, and 
Vietnam veterans with increased lymphomas, 
prostate cancer and other cancers from thier 
exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange.

 Overall cancer rates and deaths have declined 
in the United States. Nevertheless, about 41 
percent of all Americans still will be diagnosed 
with cancer during their lifetime, and about 
21 percent will die from it, according to the 
National Cancer Institute's SEER Cancer 
Statistics Review. In 2009 alone, about 1.5 
million new cases were diagnosed.

 For the past 30 years, federal agencies and 
institutes have estimated that environmental 
pollutants cause about 2 percent of all cancers 
and that occupational exposures may cause 4 
percent. 

 Patients who have a chest CT scan receive a 
dose of radiation in the same range as survivors 
of the Hiroshima atomic bomb attacks who were 
less than half a mile from ground zero. The panel 
called those estimates "woefully out of date." The 
panel criticized regulators for using them to set 
environmental regulations and lambasted the 
chemical industry for using them "to justify its 
claims that specific products pose little or no 
cancer risk." 

 But Thun of the American Cancer Society said 
that conclusion "does not represent scientific 
consensus. Rather, it reflects 
one side of a scientific debate 
that has continued for almost 
30 years." [Editor's Note: 
added May 7, 2010]

 

The report does not try to 
estimate environmentally 
induced cancers but said the 
old estimates, dating back to 
1981, fail to take into account 
many newer discoveries 
about people's vulnerability to chemicals. Many 
chemicals interact with each other, intensifying 
the effect, and some people have a genetic 
makeup or early life exposure that makes them 
susceptible to environmental contaminants.

 "It is not known exactly what percentage of 
all cancers either are initiated or promoted by 
an environmental trigger," the panel said in its 
report. "Some exposures to an environmental 
hazard occur as a single acute episode, but most 
often, individual or multiple harmful exposures 
take place over a period of weeks, months, year, 
or a lifetime."

 Boston University's Clapp was one of the 
experts who spoke to the panel in 2008. "We 
know enough now to act in ways that we have 
not done...Act on what we know," he told them.

 “There are lots of places where we can move 
forward here. Lots of things we can act on now," 
such as military base cleanups and reducing use 
of CT scans, Clapp said in an interview.

 Dr. Ted Schettler, director of the Science and 
Environmental Health Network, called the 
report an “integrated and comprehensive 
critique.” He was glad that the panel 
underscored that regulatory agencies should 
reduce exposures even when absolute proof of 
harm was unavailable.

 Also, "they recognized that exposures happen 
in mixtures, not in isolation" and that children 
are most vulnerable.

 “Some people are disproportionately exposed 
and disproportionately vulnerable," said 
Schettler, whose group was founded by 
environmental groups to urge the use of science 
to address public health issues related to the 
environment.

 Schettler said it "took courage" for the panel to 
warn physicians about the cancer risk posed by 
CT scans, particularly for young children.

 “It’s almost become routine for kids with 
abdominal pain to get a CT scan" to check for 
appendicitis, he said. Although the scans may 
lead to fewer unnecessary surgeries, doctors 
should consider the high doses of radiation. “I'm 
very glad this panel took that on," Schettler said.

 Another sensitive issue raised in the report 
was the risk of brain cancer from cell phones. 
Scientists are divided on whether there is a link.

Until more research is conducted, the panel 
recommended that people reduce their usage 
by making fewer and shorter calls, using hands-
free devices so that the phone is not against the 
head and refraining from keeping a phone on a 
belt or in a pocket.

 Even if cell phones raise the risk of cancer 
slightly, so many people are exposed that "it 
could be a large public health burden," Schettler 
said.

 The panel listed a variety of carcinogenic 
compounds that many people routinely 
encounter. Included are benzene and other 
petroleum-based pollutants in vehicle exhaust, 
arsenic in water supplies, chromium from 
plating companies, formaldehyde in kitchen 
cabinets and other plywood, bisphenol A in 
plastics and canned foods, tetrachloroethylene 
at dry cleaners, PCBs in fish and other foods and 
various pesticides.

 Chemicals and contaminants might trigger 
cancer by a variety of means. They can damage 
DNA, disrupt hormones, inflame tissues, or 
turn genes on or off.

 "Some types of cancer are increasing rapidly," 
Clapp said, including thyroid, kidney and liver 
cancers. Others, including lung and breast 
cancer, have declined, largely due to declines in 
tobacco use and hormone replacement therapy.

 Previous reports by the President's Cancer 
Panel have focused largely on treatment and 
more well-known causes of cancer such as diet 
or smoking.

 The panel criticized regulators and industry 
for using "woefully outdated" estimates 
of environmentally caused cancers to set 
regulations and "to justify its claims that specific 
products pose little or no cancer risk."Some 
experts are concerned that the report might 
just sit on a shelf at the White House. But Clapp 
said the findings are so strongly stated that he 
is confident the report will be useful to some 
policymakers, legislators and groups that want 
tougher occupational health standards or other 
regulations.

 “We’re not going to get any better than this," 
Clapp said. “This goes farther than what I 
thought the President's Cancer Panel would go. 
I’m pleased that they went as far as they did."

 Environmental health scientists said they 
hope the report raises not just the President's 
awareness of environmental threats, but the 
public's, since most people are unaware of the 
dangers.

 “This report has stature," Schettler said. “It is a 
report that goes directly to the president.”

Reprinted by permission from

Environmental Health News

During the week of Sunday, May 2th, to Saturday May 8th, the Sierra Madre Police Department 
responded to approximately 277 calls for service.

Wednesday, May 5th:

3:02 PM – Armed Robbery, 300 block Grove Street. Two male Hispanic men walked up to the 
victim, who was gardening at a residence.   One suspect pointed a handgun at the victim as they 
stole the lawn mower he was using in the front yard. The suspects, who were described as 5’10”, 
medium build, wearing white t-shirts, put the lawnmower in the rear cargo area of a mid- 1990’s, 
gray or silver Jeep Cherokee. The Cherokee was driven by a third male Hispanic, who sped off 
southbound on Grove Street and west on Grandview Ave. The crime occurred at 2:50 p.m. on 
Wednesday, 5/5/2010. The loss was estimated at $1,200.00 

Saturday, May 8th:

8:20 AM – Attempted Residential Burglary, 200 block West Carter Ave. Unknown suspect(s) 
damaged the door lock, smashed a windowpane and pried a rear door to try to gain entry into a 
home tented for fumigation. The crime occurred between 12:00 noon, Friday, 5/7/2010 and 7:30 
AM, Saturday 5/8/2010. The damages were estimated at $50.00. 

Arcadia Police Blotter

For the period of Sunday, May 2, through Saturday, May 8, the Police Department responded to 868 calls 
for service of which 142 required formal investigations. The following is a summary report of the major 
incidents handled by the Department during this period.

Sunday, May 2:

1. Suspects entered a locked and fenced property in the 2000 block of Sixth Avenue overnight and 
stole professional contractor tools from the unsecured home that is being remodeled. Tools valued at 
$2,500. 

2. Just before 2:00 p.m. a woman was shopping at Old Navy at the Westfield Shopping Town. She 
stopped to feed her baby and while she was distracted, someone stole the wallet from her purse which 
had been stored under the baby stroller. 

Monday, May 3:

3. Two vehicles parked in the 100 block of California Street were broken into overnight. Suspects 
smashed the passenger side front window of each vehicle and took miscellaneous property including a 
cellular phone, a Sirius radio, and a GPS unit. 

4. An officer made a traffic stop on a vehicle near Second Avenue and Huntington Drive around 
6:30 p.m. The driver displayed symptoms of intoxication. Field sobriety tests were conducted and the 
driver was arrested for DUI. A breathalyzer was administered and the 63-year-old Arcadia man had a 
blood/alcohol level twice the legal limit. 

Tuesday, May 4:

5. Around 1:00 a.m. officers responded to the report of suspicious persons in the area. Police 
contacted and arrested an 18-year-old Covina man who was in possession of burglary tools. Investigation 
also led officers to a cold-plated stolen vehicle in the area. During interrogation the man admitted to 
driving the stolen car to the area to commit burglaries. 

6. Shortly before 2:00 p.m. two windows in the Chamber of Commerce building, located in the 
300 block of Huntington Drive, were shattered. Investigation revealed a BB gun was used to commit 
the vandalism. No one was injured and no suspects were seen. 

Wednesday, May 5:

7. Two DUI arrests were made. A 26-year-old Pasadena man was arrested at about 1:45 
a.m. at Baldwin Avenue and Camino Real; and a 23-year-old La Puente man was arrested shortly before 
11:00 p.m. near Ninth Avenue and Live Oak Avenue. Both arrestees had blood/alcohol levels above the 
legal limit. 

8. About 2:00 p.m. officers responded to the area of Colorado Place and San Juan Drive on the 
report of a man in traffic. Officers located a 21-year-old Pasadena man who was suicidal. The man was 
taken into protective custody and transported to a psychiatric facility for evaluation and treatment. 

Thursday, May 6:

9. About 9:30 a.m. two High School students were arrested on campus for possession of 
marijuana. Both students were issued citations and released to their parents. 

10. An 18-year-old Arcadia man was arrested for possession of marijuana and possession of 
a dangerous weapon. The man was in a vehicle at around 8:30 p.m. in an alley in the 700 block of 
Southview Road when a patrol officer made contact with him and a companion. An investigation led 
to the arrest. 

Friday, May 7:

11. An 18-year-old El Monte woman was detained for a theft investigation at a store in 
the Westfield Shopping Town. Police discovered a dagger with a 5” blade in her purse. She was 
subsequently arrested for possession of a dangerous weapon. 

12. Shortly before 9:00 p.m. a 56-year-old West Covina woman was arrested for drunk in public 
in the 00 block of east Huntington Drive. 

Saturday, May 8:

13. A 1994 Acura Integra was stolen from the alley in the 00 block of east Duarte Road. The theft 
occurred overnight and no suspects were seen. 

14. Around noon an 18-year-old Los Angeles woman was arrested for steal clothing items from 
American Apparel, located in the Westfield Shopping Town. 

“The true burden 
of environmentally 
induced cancers 
has been grossly 
underestimated,” 

SIERRA MADRE’S FARMERS MARKET!

Wednesday 3-7 pm Fresh vegetables and seasonal fruits from California family farms. Specialty foods, 
vegetarian and vegan dishes, ethnic foods and hot food - Everything you’ll find at the farmers market has been made or 
picked fresh, is pesticide-free and preservative-free. Free public parking on Mariposa.