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State Health Commissioner says no evidence of cancer cluster in Henry Co.

HENRY COUNTY, Ind. (WISH) – It wasn’t the news people in Henry county wanted to hear, the State Health Commissioner says there is no evidence of a cancer cluster.

The state’s announcement came after a several months-long investigation to try and pin-point the reason for a rare type of brain cancer that has affected dozens of people.

Residents at the meeting Wednesday night said they disagreed with how the state conducted their investigation.

No testing of the water or soil.

The state said the environment can’t lead to glioblastoma.

“There’s no proof that it’s not environmental,” Aundrea Dailey said.

Dailey was hoping that state health officials could find out why she lost her father to glioblastoma.

“This was the perfect opportunity for Henry County and the state of Indiana to find out a cause, potentially”

The news she didn’t want to hear was delivered by State Health Commissioner Jerome Adams.

“There is no known cause for glioblastoma. The only cause that has ever been shown is exposure to high does radiation,” Adams said.

Adams made those comments to a room filled with Henry county residents.

Bill Craig was one of those Henry County residents in attendance.

“They need to find out what is causing this, they need to get out there and do actual physical water and soil samples instead of just looking at stats on paper because to me that’s not an investigation,” Craig added.

Craig lives near several people who have been diagnosed with glioblastoma, all within a mile radius and all within the last two years.

“All indications at this point are that the cases that occurred in close proximity in Henry county did occur by chance,” Adams said.

Doctors say there are two to three cases per 100 thousand people.

There have been more than 30 in Henry County over the past 15 years.