New system fails to allay Askeaton cancer fears

A senior health official has told farmers in Co Limerick that planned improvements to the National Cancer Registry are unlikely to strengthen claims of higher than normal cancer rates in Askeaton.

Dr Harry Comber, director of the registry, said the use of a new computerised database to evaluate local cancer fears should not make "any material difference" to previous findings for the north Limerick area. In a report last year to the Mid-Western Health Board, the registry found no abnormal cancer rates in Askeaton, despite claims by farmers and local residents to the contrary.

Under the planned improvement to the registry, a "geodirectory" will be used to match cancer cases to local areas with greater speed and accuracy.

Previously, the registry had to try to match cases with district electoral divisions (DEDs) drawn down manually from the electoral register. Dr Comber said the new system would be applied nationally, incorporating new data for 2000 and 2001. However, he stressed, in the case of Askeaton - which "we will be looking at again" - the changes "shouldn't make any material difference to the conclusions we drew.

"We have already done a six-year study for the area for 1994 to 1999. Adding another two years to that is not going to materially affect it." But Mr Pat Geoghegan, spokesman for the Cappagh Farmers' Support Group, which says there has been 70 cancer cases, and 51 cancer-related deaths in the local population over the past eight years, said the changes being made to the registry proved its conclusions to date were "flawed".

"Why change something if it's working properly? We were told all along that the registry was A1 when they knew themselves it may not have been. They have to come clean now and tell us how long they knew the registry was inadequate." Mr Geoghegan said the group was seeking to meet the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, on the issue, adding it raised "a major question mark" over the Mid-Western Health Board's role in the affair.

The health board had depended upon the registry's figures to reject claims by the farmers that there was a higher than normal cancer rate in the area. Its work formed part of a five-year €5.3 million inter-agency investigation into unexplained animal deaths in Askeaton, which cleared local industry of any blame when it reported in August 2001.

A spokesman for the health board confirmed yesterday that cancer experts would meet locals in Askeaton shortly to address their concerns. However, he said, "no date has been set" for the meeting. The National Cancer Registry's purchase of the geodirectory, which had previously been used by An Post, has been made possible through a €70,000 grant from the Department of Health and Children.

In a statement, the Department said it was expected the registry would be geocoded by next year, thus allowing it "to assess variation in cancer incidence and mortality between . . . small area units." At present, cancer patients are coded under the registry to county of residence only, unless a special DED study is commissioned such as that in Askeaton.