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Bill aimed at radon reduction stalls in House

April 3, 2013 By

A bill that would have forced schools to test for radon and required radon control systems in new homes and buildings in Iowa has died in the Iowa House.

Gail Orcutt, a lung cancer survivor from Pleasant Hill, begged a three-member subcommittee to keep the bill alive.

“I feel like I’m speaking for all the people who aren’t here,” Orcutt said.

Orcutt, a 59-year-old who never smoked, got lung cancer because of high radon levels in her home. Orcutt told lawmakers every year 400 Iowans find out they have lung cancer because of exposure to radon.

“There are so many people in Iowa who still don’t know about radon,” Orcutt told legislators, choking back tears, “and you’d think by now everybody would.”

Representative Matt Windschitl, a Republican from Missouri Valley, thanked Orcutt for her testimony.

“Gail, I really appreciate all that you’ve done to move this legislation forward,” Windschitl said, “but I think that there are still some things to be ironed out as far as the cost of it.”

Republicans like Windschitl say schools will face significant costs if tests reveal high radon levels and new equipment has to be installed to get rid it.

“I don’t know if we’re going to have enough time to iron out all those kinks,” Windschitl said.

The bill passed the Senate in March, but Windschitl and another Republican in the House voted against the bill in a three-member subcommittee today. That dooms its chance of passing a full House committee by this Friday’s deadline.

Filed Under: News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

Senate votes to require radon tests in schools (AUDIO)

March 20, 2013 By
Dick-Dearden

Dick Dearden

The Iowa Senate has voted to require radon tests in schools and the installation of radon control systems in new buildings and new homes in Iowa, but some Republicans question the expense.

Senator Dick Dearden, a Democrat from Des Moines, said a close friend who “never smoked in her life” has just been diagnosed with lung cancer.

“The doctor had advised them to check the radon levels in their home and it was just off the charts,” Dearden said. “You know, this is important stuff. We need to vote yes on this.”

The bill that passed the Senate Wednesday would give schools a year to act to reduce radon levels if tests reveal problems, something Senator Tod Bowman of Maquoketa — a teacher and coach — applauded.

“The fact that I’ve been in a school for 24 years makes me a little nervous,” Bowman said. “When these tests are going to be done in our schools, I’m going to anxiously wait and hope that our school doesn’t need any mitigation.”

Senator Jack Whitver, a Republican from Ankeny, had planned to vote against the bill — until he checked with his local school district.

“They’re testing the new schools that are being built, but they’re doing nothing about the old schools,” Whitver said. “…I believe it’s important enough to our kids to err on the side of caution with this.”

But Senator Mark Chelgren, a Republican from Ottumwa, suggests private schools could face financial ruin if tests reveal high levels of radon and new systems to reduce radon levels must be installed.

“Many of these schools are strapped for money,” Chelgren said, “makes it very difficult for them to afford the mitigation and also continue to provide the excellent education that most of these private schools provide.”

Radon is a colorless, odorless gas that causes cancer. Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, said all schools should be testing for radon.

“I would not send my son into an environment where the equivalent of four cigarettes or five cigarettes a day were being smoked,” McCoy said, “but I found out that he, potentially, could be going in a school room and could be exposed to that on a daily basis.”

Experts say up to 70 percent of Iowa homes have harmful levels of radon. It costs about $300 to install a radon control system in a new home that’s under construction. Officials say about 400 Iowans die each year because they were exposed to high levels of radon.

The bill requiring radon tests in schools and the installation of radon control systems in new homes now goes to the Iowa House for consideration.

AUDIO of Senate debate of SF366.

Filed Under: Education, Health & Medicine, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

U-I study shows better numbers for breast cancer survival

March 20, 2013 By
Sonia Sugg

Sonia Sugg

Projections for the number of Iowans who will die from cancer this year are unchanged from last year, but the death rate is dropping for one type of cancer.

The annual “Cancer in Iowa” study from the State Health Registry of Iowa, based at the University of Iowa’s College of Public Health, predicts cancer will kill 6,400 Iowans this year.

Professor Sonia Sugg, medical director at the U-of-I’s Breast Health Center, says Iowa’s breast cancer mortality rate is falling. She credits several elements: “Early detection, lifestyle changes and also an improvement in treatment.”

One of those lifestyle changes includes maintaining a healthy weight. Professor Sugg says obesity increases the risk of developing breast cancer, plus, if diagnosed, being obese will likely shorten a patient’s lifespan.

Sugg says, “If someone can maintain a healthy weight, they not only can decrease their chance of getting breast cancer but they can also do better if they do, in fact, get diagnosed with breast cancer.” The number of Iowa women who have died from breast cancer has dropped 40-percent since its peak in 1992.

Survival rates for breast cancer are climbing and now, 33-thousand Iowa women are living with a breast cancer diagnosis. Another plus, Sugg says the experts can identify different types of breast cancer sooner, allowing them to use a more focused style of treatement.

Sugg says, “The use of hormone replacement therapy can increase the risk of developing breast cancer so we’re much more careful about prescribing hormone replacement therapy to women.”

The overall prediction that cancer will kill 6,400 Iowans this year is 17 times the number of deaths from motor vehicle crashes. Also, it’s estimated 17,300 Iowans will be diagnosed with cancer this year.

See the full cancer report at: www.public-health.uiowa.edu/shri/

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Giant colon replica used to educate about Cancer

March 6, 2013 By
An 8 foot colon is used to raise awarenes of the importance of screenings to catch Cancer.

An 8 foot colon is used to raise awarenes of the importance of screenings to catch Cancer.

A Cedar Rapids hospital is setting up a 20-foot long, eight-foot high replica of a human colon to call attention to the importance of colorectal cancer screenings.

Colon cancer is the number-two cancer killer in Iowa, behind only lung cancer.

Chuck Reed, spokesman for the American Cancer Society’s Des Moines chapter, says this is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. “It’s a big month for us as we’re trying to create awareness,” Reed says.

“We want people to know about what they can do to avoid getting colon cancer. It has one of our best screenings. The colonoscopy is kind of the gold standard for cancer screenings.”

Officials with Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids say the “Rollin’ Colon” display is like a long, pink tunnel.

It’s big enough to walk through and it’s designed to educate people about the risks, symptoms, prevention, early detection and treatment options for colorectal cancer. Reed urges people at a certain age and above to schedule a colonoscopy.

“Get it at 50 if you haven’t had one yet,” Reed says. “It’s one of the few screenings for cancer where, if indeed cancer is found, a small polyp is found, they remove it. So, not only does it dedect the cancer, it also removes it.” Reed says there are steps you can take every day to stay well.

“Your diet, exercise, avoiding tobacco, limiting alcohol consumption,” Reed says. “All of those things we try to tell people to do to avoid getting cancer certainly apply for colon cancer.” It’s estimated colon cancer will claim 600 lives in Iowa this year.

One new tactic the American Cancer Society is using to get out the word about screenings this month is to advertise on drink coasters. Learn more at: www.cancer.org.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

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Cancer survivors want breast density data required in mamogram reports

March 5, 2013 By
Bridget Pargulski

Bridget Pargulski

A group of breast cancer survivors is urging a House committee to take up legislation that would require mammogram reports to disclose the density of breast tissue.

Bridget Pargulski of Johnston homemaker, says for four years in a row her cancer was missed in her mammograms because her breast tissue was dense.

“Cancer on a mammogram shows up white and so does dense breast tissue. That’s why you can’t see it. Even large tumors — tumors as large as five centimeters — will not show up on a mammogram if it’s clouded by this dense tissue. I didn’t know that,” Pargulski says. “When I got my mammogram report every year and it said normal, I thought that meant I did not have cancer. Now I know that’s not what it means and woman have a right to know that.”

Pargulski says if women are told their breast tissue is dense, they can take other steps to check for tumors. Patricia Ripley of West Des Moines is another breast cancer survivor who backs the bill.

“I thought I was doing everything right by having annual mammograms,” Ripley says. “They would tell me my breasts were dense, but I didn’t know that mammograms don’t always find the cancer.”

Representative Helen Miller, a Democrat from Fort Dodge, is the bill’s lead sponsor and it’s modeled after laws in four other states.

“The only rationalizations that I’ve heard in opposition to this bill basically are that the language is prescriptive, number one, and, number two, the physicians don’t like being told what to do,” Miller says. “Having been married to a physician for over 40 years, I can honestly say: ‘They can get used to it.’”

Miller’s late husband, Dr. Edward Miller, died of cancer in 2010.

The Iowa Medical Society and the Iowa Academy of Family Physicians are opposed to the bill. An Iowa City doctor who is a member of the Medical Society’s board of directors says there is “no consensus in the scientific community on the relationship between breast density and cancer risk.” According to Dr. Marygrace Elson, if the bill becomes law women will be unnecessarily “frightened” into seeking additional breast cancer screenings which are not medically necessary.  The doctor also says there is no “uniform method for assessing breast density.”

The bill about mammogram reports must clear the House Human Resources Committee this week, or it is ineligible for debate for the rest of the year.

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Banning teens from using commercial tanning beds

February 28, 2013 By
Dr. Christenson, left, speaks with Iowa Medical Society’s Kate Walton & Senator Quirmbach

Dr. Christenson, left, speaks with Iowa Medical Society’s Kate Walton & Senator Quirmbach

A bill that would prohibit teenagers from using tanning beds has won initial approval in an Iowa Senate subcommittee.

Dr. Leslie Christenson of Ames, a dermatologist, says the ultraviolet rays from tanning beds are “a known carcinogen.”

“Right up there with tobacco and asbestos,” Christenson says. “The interesting thing is, however, that the FDA regulates them as a Class 1 Medical Device, which is the same as band-aids and…tongue depressors, so we’re a bit behind in how we regulate these.”

Dr. Christenson did research on the issue when she worked at the Mayo Clinic and found cases of melanoma skin cancer among young women had increased 50 percent over the past three decades.

“Tanning beds were introduced in the 1970s. By 1988, only one percent of the population had ever used them,” Christenson says. “2007 — by that time — about 27 percent of the population had used them.”

The bill under consideration in the Iowa Senate would prohibit anyone under the age of 18 from using a commercial tanning bed.

“We know when we’re exposed in our youth, our risks are higher,” Christenson says, “so when we are exposed to these before the age of like, you know, 35 — your risk of melanoma is 75 times that as someone who wasn’t exposed to them before the age of 35.”

A variety of organizations representing doctors support the bill. Kate Walton, a lobbyist for the Iowa Medical Society, says a variety of organizations representing doctors support the bill.

“In Iowa, you cannot receive a tattoo if you’re under the age of 18. You can’t have body-piercing without parents permission. We don’t permit people to buy cigarettes under the age of 18, alcohol under the age of 21,” Walton says. “There are examples in the interest of the public health that say that a ban like this is a good idea.”

But the move has its critics, like Senator Nancy Boettger, a Republican from Harlan.

“If it’s a bad thing, let’s just ban it for everybody, but if not, I think it’s the parent’s responsibility,” Boettger says. “Laying on a tanning bed is not as dangerous as having an abortion and we allow that to happen.”

Boettger also warns there’ll be a “revolt from prom-goers” if the bill becomes law.

Matt Eide, a lobbyist for the American Suntanning Association, says the tanning bed industry has its own experts who’d like to speak with lawmakers.

“We believe that this type of ban will move teenagers to aggressively suntan outdoors and/or turn to unregulated home tanning units where the dangers and risks are higher than we have now with the regulated industry.”

Democratic Senator Herman Quirmbach of Ames, the bill’s sponsor, scoffs at that.

“Outdoor tanning does occur a few months out of the year here,” Quirmback says, “but I doubt that it’s very likely to happen in February.”

Quirmbach and another senator signed off on the bill this morning, making it eligible for committee debate next week.

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Deadline approaching for Cancer Society “Daffodil Days”

February 7, 2013 By

The deadline is approaching to take part in one of the longest-running and most popular fundraisers for the American Cancer Society. Iowa chapter spokeswoman Andrea Hanus says Daffodil Days is a great way to spread the joy of spring to Iowans who’ve been touched by cancer.

Orders are taken by volunteers from the community in January and February and the bright yellow flowers will be available for pickup March 11th through 15th. The deadline to order is February 18th. This is the 40th year for the program.

Hanus says you can get a bouquet of about 10 daffodils for a $10 donation, and there are many other options. There’s also a bouquet with a vase for $15, daffodil bulbs ready to plant, the Bear in a Bunch program, or a huge bouquet for the office or place of worship.

Estimates find 17-thousand Iowans will be diagnosed with cancer this year while 6,000 Iowans will die from it. As the first flower of spring, the daffodil represents hope and renewal.

To the American Cancer Society, the daffodil symbolizes hope for a future where cancer no longer threatens those we love. To order, call 800-ACS-2345 or visit: www.cancer.org.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

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