Tumor Latency Periods
One over-arching concern we hear echoed among community members is their mounting fears and anxieties regarding potential future illnesses and cancers, after this documented 35 years of toxic pollution.
In fact, we are well aware the certain cancers will take years to show up in the bloodstream, the lymphatic system, or to be detected systemically.
One such data point to consider is the minimal tumor latency which may help to prognosticate future illness that has yet to be recognized, never mind yet to be quantified in the IL Department of Health Cancer database.
The 9-11 Medical Monitoring and Treatment program, first established in 2012 and modified as recently as 2015, has been a primary example of the type of repository necessary for the baseline establishment of minimum latencies of cancers by category. WTC 9.11 Minimum Latency & Types or Categories of Cancer (Click here)
For example, the 1/6/2015 revision stated the minimum time that could be reasonably expected to produce a cancer after exposure was to be:
(1) Mesothelioma—11 years, based on direct observation after exposure to mixed forms of asbestos;
(2) All solid cancers (other than mesothelioma, lymphoproliferative, thyroid, and childhood cancers)—4 years, based on low estimates used for lifetime risk modeling of low-level ionizing radiation studies;
(3) Lymphoproliferative and hematopoietic cancers (including all types of leukemia and lymphoma)—0.4 years (equivalent to 146 days), based on low estimates used for lifetime risk modeling of low-level ionizing radiation studies;
(4) Thyroid cancer—2.5 years, based on low estimates used for lifetime risk modeling of low level ionizing radiation studies; and
(5) Childhood cancers (other than lymphoproliferative and hematopoietic cancers)—1 year, based on the National Academy of Sciences findings. According to the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 (“Act”) (42 U.S.C. §§ 300mm to 300mm-61), a determination that an individual’s 9/11 exposure is substantially likely to be a significant factor in aggravating, contributing to, or causing an individual’s health condition must be made based on an assessment of the following:
(1) the individual’s exposure to airborne toxins, any other hazard, or any other adverse condition resulting from the terrorist attacks; and
(2) the type of symptoms and temporal sequence of symptoms (42 U.S.C. § 300mm-22(a)(2)). With regard to the temporal sequence of symptoms, cancers do not occur immediately after exposure to a causative agent and they usually take many years up to several decades to manifest clinically.
We believe that there is just cause to utilize the existing animal research on Ethylene Oxide chronic exposure, a database that spans from studies published in the 1940s until present day, to extrapolate hypotheses regarding tumor latency periods in residential settings.
Since the CDC has been instrumental in assisting the 9-11 Medical Monitoring program for victims of the hazards resultant from that toxic air, we would like to work with the CDC /ATSDR liaison to Willowbrook to better understand the illnesses that are yet to be observed in our suburban locale, particularly given the number of pediatric patients known to have been exposed.
