Herald today:
University brings in experts as staff fears of cancer cluster grow
THE University of NSW is investigating a possible cancer cluster after staff expressed concerns about the high incidence of the disease among those working in a building on its Kensington campus.
In an email to staff on Monday, the senior associate dean of the faculty of arts and social sciences, Sarah Maddison, said the university would appoint an epidemiologist to review the history of illness in the Morven Brown building.
"This expert will assess whether the number of these cases is abnormally high … and, if it is, give an opinion on whether and how their cause might be attributable to environmental factors."
While staff were relieved the university had acted, the National Tertiary Education Union's branch president, Susan Price, who also works in the building, said many were worried the investigation would be limited to one form of cancer.
Dr Maddison said the decision on the scope of the investigation would be made by the epidemiologist, not the university. Other staff were concerned that Dr Maddison's email indicated the university had prejudged the investigation's findings.
The email reads: "Without pre-empting the report's findings, I would like to reassure all staff that the most likely outcome of this process is a finding that the incidence of breast cancer in Morven Brown is not higher than that in the broader community."
Ms Price said that for many staff in the building this was not reassuring. "Every time you heard of a new colleague diagnosed with a cancer-related illness, people were concerned that it might have something to do with the building or outside the building."