Health Commissioner’s Letter to the Editor

This letter is in response to the media’s recent attention on acute childhood leukemia in Marysville. Much of the information in print and on TV has been accurate, but often news like this is hard for residents to understand and process because the tone of such articles causes fear. Families begin to wonder if Union County, specifically Marysville, is a safe place to live.

As the Union County Health Commissioner, I can assure your readers that Union County and the city of Marysville are both safe and healthy places to live. Although the recent rates of acute childhood leukemia are concerning, there has been no evidence of any specific source or cause among the cases we have been studying. With the help of Ohio Department of Health and experts at Children’s Hospital, we have looked for commonalities among cases such as schools, drinking water, family history, prenatal and patient exposures to chemicals containing benzene, and household health habits and found no links between cases. With the help of experts we are continuing our study.

There is a lot we don’t know yet, but we DO know several important things:

1. Leukemia is the leading cancer among children and it is very complicated. Many factors may combine which can result in bone marrow malfunction. Most of these factors are beyond our control.

2. Exposure to benzene is known to contribute to the development of childhood leukemia.

3. Smoking exposes children to benzene, which is contained in concentrated amounts in smoke coming from the end of the cigarette.

My strong advice to parents in Union County is this – Don’t move away from Marysville because you are afraid of leukemia! But if you smoke, STOP NOW! Avoid places where your child is exposed to smoking. And protect your children from the leading cause of injury and death to children, and these are ACCIDENTS. Buckle them up! Make sure they wear bicycle helmets! Supervise them at play! These are the factors we can control. The Union County Health Department works daily to keep Union County safe and healthy. Call us for help to stop smoking or for more information at (937) 642-0801 or toll free at (888) 333-9461.

Devoted to the public's health,

Anne J. Davy, RN, MS
Union County Health Commissioner