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Iredell lawmaker wants state to look for cancer clusters

A team of state scientists would lay out a plan to look for cancer clusters around North Carolina under a bill that cleared a Senate committee Wednesday.

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Lung cancer
By
Travis Fain
, WRAL statehouse reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — A team of state scientists would lay out a plan to look for cancer clusters around North Carolina under a bill that cleared a Senate committee Wednesday.

Senate Bill 297 was filed by Sen. Vickie Sawyer, R-Iredell, whose district includes a potential thyroid cancer cluster.

Her bill directs the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to put together a team to "discuss, review, and analyze statewide cancer data," making an initial report back to the state legislature by the end of the year.

The collaboratory would draw expertise from a number of state agencies, including the state Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Environmental Quality and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Sawyer said the plan can be executed with existing state funds at the collaboratory. Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, a budget writer in the Senate, said during committee Wednesday that the bill is a good use of money and talent.

Duke University scientists recently released initial results from an 18-month study of thyroid cancer cases in teenage girls in Iredell County, where cases are well above the state average. Maps presented at a meeting on the issue also showed higher-than-average rates in parts of New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties, NC PolicyWatch reported last week.

Scientists said more research is needed, but they keyed in part on coal ash. Sawyer has also filed Senate Bill 328, which would put stronger limits on on the way coal ash can be used in construction projects.

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