Meeting to focus on Bethpage cancer study

State Department of Health officials will host a meeting Feb. 13 to discuss the department's assessment of cancer rates and environmental exposures in a Bethpage neighborhood bordering Navy and Northrop Grumman aviation facilities.

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, a county legislator at the time, requested the study in March 2009 after the Navy reported it had found possible cancer-causing chemicals in air inside and beneath homes near a former Navy drum storage site.

The state on Jan. 17 released the report, which looked at cancer rates in a 19-block area and a separate one-block area.

In the larger area, the number of cases reflected what would normally be expected among the adult population.

In the one-block area, people with cancer were diagnosed at younger ages than what is typically found. But given the small sample, the state did not find a pattern of unusual cases, according to the report.

The report can be found at health.ny.gov. The meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. in the Bethpage High School auditorium.

For queries about the cancer evaluation, call Aura Weinstein, director of the cancer surveillance program, at 518-473-7817, or email canmap@health.state.ny.us.

Questions about the study can be directed to public health specialist Steve Karpinski at 518-474-7880 or emailed to beei@health.state.ny.us.