Many things going on, but we will look at one i thought i was going to post on my environmental site, but it was more my response than an actual environmental issue.
Caller: I want to get my water tested."
Me: okay, are you having any problems? (I always ask this because we are limited in what we can do.)
Caller: There is an unknown cancer cluster here where I live and I want to test for carcinogens.
Me: Unknown?
Caller: Yes, very few people know about it.
I finished the conversation by referring her to the State DEP, that kind of testing is way out of our league, but now I was curious.
The reason is because our lab is the center for all significant illnesses for our town, so anything that goes on, we know about.
There is also very good info online at the state health department website.
All cancers are reported and documented, all tumors are tracked (i guess mine is in there also).
The only thing that stood out in Stamford was lung cancer due to cigarette smoking.
I pretty much knew that.
There was never any major industry in the part of town where there are wells, mostly farm and cattle.
I do worry about arsenic because it was used for a long time on apple orchards and probably will start my study some time in September when we get out machine.
I know there is radon, but I will never be able to follow that because of the US EPA's own confusion on the subject.
But the lung cancer in the area is really linked very well to smoking.
I understand the fears of cancer, i faced them.
I understand the fear of the "unknown", i faced that also, but there is more going on here.
It is the fear that people really do want to hide things from you. Things that will kill you.
That everyone who's job it is to try to protect your well being are really just sneaky jerks looking to watch you die. That I have a lot of trouble with.
There are people trying to pull strings and make money off of us, to sell us things that will hurt us, but that is not the people in this business. It is not. There are some lazy slobs, there always are, but most people in this line of work are in it, not because of the money, but because they can do some good. We are not about to hide things like that.
It is 7 days to a full moon, that might explain some of it.
6 comments:
joey, i LOVE the boat picture!!
disease 'clusters' seem to be everywhere, if you pay attention...in my small county, i know there are dozens, if not hundreds, of ms cases...weird....
All valid points ... especially the last sentence.
One of my jobs Libby is to try to keep on top of all those disease clusters and scream loudly if anything really shows up. They may try to muffle my screams, but I do blog. (no i am NOT the epidemiologist, I am the guy who wrote the database that keeps everything on file and i check it regularly).
Uncool - How very aware we are of this.
True, all true. It is sad when people attempt to profit off others' misery. But I comfort myself in knowing there is much good in the world.
Your rainbow thingy in the sidebar is not showing completely. It looks like "You are a c- person". What's C for? Cool? Crabby? Crybaby?
Grant, what are you using for a computer screen and old CRT with 60 x 120 resolution? It says creative! But I think you're substitutions are more interesting.
Post a Comment