Report Raises More Questions About Contamination Near Rocketdyne

People living near the Rocketdyne test laboratory outside Simi Valley have 17% more lung cancer than expected--a finding state officials apparently knew two years ago but did not disclose and which has prompted charges of a cover-up.

A study released Thursday does not identify the cause of the increased disease. Its author said that in addition to pollution at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, factors ranging from smog to old age to smoking could explain the higher incidence of lung cancer in the community.

Meanwhile, UCLA scientists today are set to announce the results of a long-awaited health study, the second in two years, examining the health of workers at the lab.

The study disclosed Thursday is a separate effort, but is likely to escalate the debate about whether the contamination at the rocket-testing plant imperils neighbors.

Critics--including residents, some local lawmakers and activists--say the latest findings underscore the need to broaden health investigations to include people living in subdivisions near the lab.

In the report by the Central Coast division of the California Cancer Registry, researchers found more incidence of lung cancer among 91,000 residents living within five miles of the lab.

Based on the average frequency of lung cancer in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, researchers expected to find 261 such cancers in the census tracts they examined, but instead found 306.

The report examined a dozen types of cancer reported in the study area between 1988 and 1995. Taken as a whole, cancer prevalence in those categories was within expected ranges. Some cancers, particularly those most often associated with exposure to radiation, were much lower than anticipated, said author and research epidemiologist Kiumarss Nasseri.

Nasseri describes his work as a “preliminary, simple analysis.” It has not been reviewed by independent scientists to double-check veracity, nor has it been published in a scientific journal. He said he did the work at the request of Paul E. Lorenz, director of the Ventura County Public Health Services Department.

The report was provided to the state Department of Health Services in October 1997, but the agency did not forward it to UCLA researchers engaged in the worker health study, to an oversight panel appointed by sate lawmakers, or to the public.

It surfaced this week when the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a Los Angeles-based group pressing for cleanup of the Santa Susana lab, gave it to Assemblywoman Sheila James Kuehl (D-Santa Monica).

Critics accuse the health department of suppressing the document in an attempt to minimize health risks associated with the lab.

“It’s very bad news [that] we have elevated lung cancer among residents living next to the Simi Valley lab,” said Joseph Lyou with Committee to Bridge the Gap. “The health department has withheld this from the public. History has now repeated itself.”

Raymond R. Neutra, division chief for environmental and occupational disease control at the state health department, said his agency did not divulge the 1997 report because the findings are ambivalent and do not indicate a significant health problem.

“We didn’t suppress anything,” he said. “There was no attempt to hide this. We interpreted it as a nonissue and filed it.”

Rocketdyne spokesman Dan Beck described the furor over the report as “more about politics than science.” Said Beck: “Rocketdyne is not the cause of this lung cancer.”