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New Map Tracks City's Cancer Rates
By
Jaya Saxena
Published May 10, 2010
Modified May 10, 2010
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published May 10, 2010
Modified May 10, 2010
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The state departments of Health and Environmental Conservation unveiled a new, interactive map today that uses census data from 2000 to show cases of cancer around the city. It also highlights things like hazardous waste generators, commercial pesticide sellers and active solid waste sites in hopes that users can better understand the causes of cancer.
The neighborhoods on the map are divided into small units with vast ranges in population, so the differences in cancer cases are small but sometimes noticeable. For instance, one Roosevelt Island neighborhood with a population of about 5,000 had 77 cases (about 1.5% of the population), including 7 cases of lung cancer and 9 cases of prostate cancer. Meanwhile, a West Village neighborhood near three chemical bulk storage sites reported 3% of their population with cancer. One area in DUMBO near a few active solid waste sites had 64 cases, about 4.7% of the population, with 10 cases of breast cancer and 7 cases of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
The map draws no conclusions about risk factors like radiation exposure, diet or sunlight, and notes that many people may have developed cancer before they moved to those neighborhoods. But the Health Department says that through using the map, "Users will find that cancer is a very common disease. One of every two men, and one of every three women, will be diagnosed with cancer at some time in their life," and Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) believes, "This is Step 1 in a process which over the course of months and years will yield a conclusion about where cancer clusters exist in New York" and "in getting to answers about whether these clusters are statistical accidents or related to an environmental cause."
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Jaya Saxena
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