[CPEO-MEF] Leukemia cluster sparks lawsuit

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Leukemia cluster sparks lawsuit

Frank X. Mullen Jr. 
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
5/2/2002 10:41 pm 
An Incline Village doctor has filed a federal lawsuit designed to make 
the city of Fallon, U.S. Navy and companies connected with fuel spills 
in Fallon pay for leukemia screenings for the town?s children.

It is the first lawsuit in the nation?s largest and fastest-growing 
childhood cancer cluster.

Dr. Alan S. Levin, who is also a lawyer, filed the class action lawsuit 
in U.S. District Court in Reno. The suit seeks to force the city, the 
Navy, Exxon Mobil Corp., Kinder-Morgan Energy Partners L.P., the 
Speedway Gas Station and other ?John Does? to pay for cancer screenings 
for more than 1,000 Fallon children.

On Thursday, Levin explained the lawsuit is not meant to fix blame for 
the cancer cluster on the defendants.

?Proving responsibility for the cancer cluster would be something for a 
different lawsuit,? said Levin, a key witness in the Woburn, Mass., 
leukemia cluster case upon which the book and movie, ?A Civil Action,? 
is based. ?The premise of this suit is that the defendants caused a fear 
of cancer in the community and that makes them responsible for the 
screenings.?

The defendants could not be reached for comment Thursday, and Levin said 
they would be served with the complaint within a few days.

Since 1997, 15 children have been diagnosed with leukemia in the Fallon 
area and two died last year. The Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention is continuing its investigation of the cancer cluster, which 
represents 10 times the rate of childhood leukemia that would be 
expected in a community that size.

This story can be viewed in its entirety at:
http://64.124.91.136/news/stories/html/2002/05/02/13519.php

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