What lies beneath … ? Walter Pless image of Wentworth Park as it is today
Tasmania’s cancer rate at 443.9 cases per 100,000 people is the highest in Australia but, exactly what does this mean for evidenced based research on cause of cancer in the Tasmanian community?
The similarities with the way that the Tasmanian Government covered up the Wentworth Park cancer cluster and the Government’s response to potential health impacts for residents living in Rosebery and St Helens are highlighted by Poppy Lopatniuk in her new book being launched today at the Hobart Bookshop at Salamanca Square.
Poppy’s comments should ring alarm bells for the community and concerned medical professionals struggling to understand the Government’s denial about the impact of environmental toxins on community health in Tasmania.
In Poppy’s book she states:
“What I did not know then was that almost every public official I would contact in the many years to come would quote the Cancer Registry figures as their basis for denying that there had been at health problem at the old Howrah tip site. The reiteration by the Director of Public Health and the Cancer Registry figures show no significant increases in rates of any type of cancer (or all cancers combined) in the area and that the cancer data are reliable, is very misleading, in my opinion. About 50% of the cancers, when they eventuated, occurred in family members who had moved elsewhere and so they did not show up in the Cancer Registry figures, which were compiled by postcode [7018]…the 7018 postcode which covers a huge area, including Bellerive, Rosny, Warrane, Howrah, Tranmere and Mornington. This is a very important part of my argument”
“As hard as it has been to deal with the apparent lies and evasions of the Clarence City Council officers and the Director of Public Health, it was the injustice done to the many people who trusted what they were told and have suffered and died from preventable cancers, and the utter disregard for human life that has kept me going on this quest for justice for the victims”.
“This to-ing and fro-ing by all government agencies and passing the buck is systematic of how I [Poppy Lopatniuk] have been treated since 1998 and it makes me very ashamed of the Tasmanian government and its lies and deception”.
Interestingly an independent report in 2000 into health statistics on the West Coast of Tasmania revealed some shocking findings which had implpications for the Rosebery heavy metal poisoning investigation but which subsequently suffered a disappearing trick by the DHHS:
On 10 November 2000 the report “Health Needs Assessment of the Communities of Rosebery, Zeehan and Tullah” prepared by Alberton Consulting in partnership with Di Hollister released some shocking health statistics for these West Coast towns. The Report highlights some of the significant health problems for people living in West Coast mining towns. It found that “54% more West Coast residents died from cancer compared to Tasmanians in other non-metropolitan areas of the state” and “admissions to public acute hospitals for treatment of bronchitis, emphysema and asthma… was elevated by more than 35%” and “from circulatory disease (heart disease and stroke mainly)….66% more deaths than would normally be expected.”
When you compare this previously undisputed research to claims and denials on cancer statistics in Rosebery made by former head of the Public and Environmental Health Service Dr Chrissie Pickin in a Q&A in LEAD Action
News:
http://www.lead.org.au/lanv11n1/lanv11n1-2.html
‘Q.Surely something’s going on- what about the high levels of cancer in the area that the newsletter reported?
‘A. Dr Chrissie Pickin
Actually, despite what the newsletter said there isn’t a higher rate of cancer in the Rosebery area. The latest report of the Cancer Registry shows that the standardised cancer rates for the West Coast Council (the local government area in which Rosebery sits) are exactly what would be expected for the local population.
And then there is the St Helens matter on the E.nitens water crisis:
http://www.oldtt.pixelkey.biz/index.php/article/call-for-roscoe-taylor-to-resign
‘Here is another instance where Dr Taylor appears to have intentionally created confusion with his public announcement.
A third instance of confusion arises with Dr Taylor’s assurances that there is no indication of rising cancer rates in the area. He has stated this publicly on at least three occasions.
In his letter to residents on 6 March 2010 Dr Taylor says, “the Tasmanian Cancer Registry has now examined preliminary data for 2007 and advised that there is no indication of rising cancer rates in the area.”
But the data collected by the Tasmanian Cancer Registry and given on the Menzies website refers to rates of increase by municipalities and not specific areas like St Helens.
In addition, the latest report from the Menzies Centre notes that the rate of all cancers in Tasmania (excluding skin cancer) has increased by 41% for males and 33% for females during the period 1980 – 2006.
So what does Dr Taylor mean by “no indication of rising cancer rates in the area”?’
Tasmanian cancer statistics – a big question – that the Tasmanian community have a right to know the truth about.
Come and hear Poppy speak at the book launch this afternoon.
Isla MacGregor
Tasmanian Public and Environmental Health Network http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Landfill_pollution_in_Tasmania
