Md. To Keep Monitoring Cancers Near Fort Detrick
FREDERICK, Md. (AP) -- Maryland's public health agency says a nearly 18-month cancer investigation has produced enough statistically significant results to warrant continued monitoring in neighborhoods around Fort Detrick in Frederick.
A Department of Health and Mental Hygiene official said at a public meeting Monday that the incidence of lymphomas within a mile of the Army installation from 1992 to 2008 was 25 percent higher than in the state as a whole.
But Dr. Clifford Mitchell says there was no statistically significant difference between the Fort Detrick area and the rest of Frederick County.
He says public health officials will analyze new data as they become available to try to understand the mixed findings.
The investigation was prompted by public concerns about the fort's work with Agent Orange and other chemicals decades ago.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
