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increase in a type of lung cancer
was seen in mining towns and
later in Navy shipyard workers
during World War II, resulting in
the discovery of mesothelioma, a
cancer that is caused by inhaling
asbestos fibers or dust. Not only
was asbestos linked to a specific
type of cancer rarely seen in
people not exposed to it, the actual
asbestos fibers were found in the
lungs of those who were ill.
Another cancer connection
was identified at Massachusetts
General Hospital, in Boston, when
cases of a rare type of vaginal
cancer increased among daughters
of women who were taking
diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic
estrogen that was prescribed from
1938 to 1971 to reduce the risk of
miscarriage. The cancer occurred
among girls who were exposed
in utero; girls whose mothers did
not take DES didn’t get it. Both
asbestos and DES moved beyond
correlation into the realm of
cause and effect. But both are
exceptions, not the rule.
brain and central nervous system
cancers— 23 more than would be
expected in a population of its size.
Gillick’s son, Michael, was one of
the first children diagnosed. And
she suspected, long before health
officials did, that something was
truly wrong.
As Gillick’s son was being
treated, nurses and social workers
would ask her to talk to other
families with children who had
cancer. These conversations led her
to form the nonprofit organization
ocean of Love in 1988. “When we
started ocean of Love,” she recalls,
“we took a map of the county and
put it on a door. And we put a pin
in the map for each child that had
been diagnosed.” They started out
with 12 pins; before they knew it,
Toms River was covered. Parents in
the town called for an investigation.
In 1996, “the whole alphabet soup
of agencies came in,” says Gillick.
They identified a possible culprit:
contaminated water. Five years
later, in December 2001, a
settlement was reached between
69 families and Ciba Specialty
Chemicals Corporation, Union
Carbide Corporation, and United
Water Resources Inc. The families
believed these companies were
responsible for the chemical
contamination that caused the
cancers. The companies agreed
to the settlement but never
admitted any liability. Since the
original cases, 28 more children
in the Toms River area have been
diagnosed with cancer. Sixteen of
the 118 children have died.
Around the same time,
Hollywood brought renewed
attention to two other cancer
cluster investigations that reached
the courts. In 1998, the film A Civil
Action, based on a book by the
same name, starring John Travolta,
CR | Page No. 37 | www.CRmagazine.org
COMMUNITY
CANCER CLUSTERS
Linda Gillick knows all about
cancer clusters and how they are
investigated. So do most of the
residents of Toms River, N.J., the
home of a now infamous childhood
cancer cluster. Between 1979
and 1995, 90 children in the area
were diagnosed with leukemia or
