The Region : No Cause Found for Cluster of Cancers

Health officials issued a long-awaited report on a cluster of childhood cancers in the Kern County town of McFarland, saying they could find nothing in the present environment that could have caused the illnesses. However, the report indicated that a second study is under way to determine if something in the past could be responsible. “I think we have done as thorough a job as we know how to do,” said Dr. Leon Hebertson, the county’s health officer. “I think the study is conclusive that there is not anything in the present environment which can explain the cancer cluster. . . .” The county Health Department and the state Department of Health Services study confirmed that the incidence of childhood cancer in the town of 6,000 was unusually high from 1975 through 1985, when 10 cases were reported. Three cases would be normal for the period, officials said.