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MURAL BRIGHTENS NEIGHBOURHOOD, PAGE 6
23 APRIL - 6 MAY, 2021
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Chief health officer Brett Sutton is being called on to investigate potential links between Geelong council’s mosquito spraying program and the “high rate” of leukemia in Barwon Heads over an 18-year period. Geelong-based Senator Sarah Henderson, who attended Tuesday’s public hearing for the Senate inquiry into a possible cancer cluster in Barwon Heads, urged Professor Sutton to broaden a health department investigation into the issue to include any Victorian diagnosed with leukemia who “may have a connection with the coastal town”. The inquiry follows numerous locals raising fears about a link between a council mosquito spraying initiative in the mid-1980s and a higher incidence of cancer and auto-immune disease in the town. “As Barwon Heads’ mosquito spraying program occurred during the summer months when a large number of holidaymakers were present, and given many residents exposed to organophosphate pesticides (Ops) may have moved away, I have asked Professor Sutton to investigate the links between the Barwon Heads’ mosquito spraying program and Victorians diagnosed with leukemia,” Ms Henderson said. “This may involve writing to each … person and inquiring as to whether they had ever spent any time on the Bellarine Peninsula, including Barwon Heads.”
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This week’s public hearing at the Barwon Heads community hall gave residents the chance to share their stories about the possible cancer cluster. Ms Henderson said a number of residents addressed the hearing, including Campbell Stephenson, whose sister Georgie died in 2017 at age 26 after her second fight against leukemia. It was then reported that five of her peers from both Barwon Heads Primary School and Bellarine Secondary College had also died as a result of cancer. Ms Henderson said the inquiry also heard from people who claimed that mosquito spraying frequently occurred in and around the Village Park, as well as mangroves near the river, the primary school and the caravan park. Ms Henderson has called on the council to provide a copy of each of the city’s mosquito spraying schedules since 1982. The City of Greater Geelong said in its submission to the inquiry that it “is not in a position to comment on whether or not a cancer cluster exists, as this is not within our expertise or jurisdiction”. Ms Henderson said an expert advisory group appointed by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services “did not consider the number of leukemia cases to be statistically material” but it found a “higher rate than normal (24 per cent) of breast cancer cases occurred in Barwon Heads between 1982 and 2019”. The health department was contacted.
(Justin Flynn)
Call to expand probe
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