SALEM, Ore. — A state analysis shows Oregon has a high rate of a childhood bone cancer that has caused worry in a West Salem neighborhood where five children were diagnosed with the disease and three died.
The analysis done by the Oregon Health Authority shows Oregon and Utah second in the nation, behind Idaho, in the rate of childhood osteosarcoma over a five-year span.
The state epidemiologist, Dr. Katrina Hedberg, tells the Statesman Journal (http://stjr.nl/1gKMVUa) it’s hard to draw conclusions from such sometimes-random rankings.
A federal environmental investigation of West Salem soils found nothing that could be linked to the diseases.
The state analysis covers a period that includes some, but not all, of the West Salem cases.
