Three days ago, I went all Erin Brockovich about the news that wasn't being reported in the news reports about the Nevada Cancer Institute opening offices in Elko and Fallon. As initially reported by the local Nevada television and print media, this was an effort to help provide outreach, education and support to the projected 11,000 Nevadans who will be diagnosed with cancer this year. At that time, not one of the news reports mentioned anything about the water supply, or the fact that Fallon is classified as a cancer cluster town, or why the offices were being opened. Days later, you can go here, and here, and even here, to be told that University of Arizona scientists think they may have a found the reason for the unusually high number of childhood cancer cases in Sierra Vista and Fallon, Nevada.

The researchers exposed pregnant mice to arsenic and tungsten, and found the two metals caused genetic changes in the offspring that are related to the development of leukemia and brain cancer. The 21 researchers concluded that environmental metals exposure, specifically arsenic and tungsten, probably does play a role in the development of these childhood leukemia clusters. Airborne tungsten and cobalt waft into town from Kennametal, a hard metals plant that operates not far from Fallon. But once again, with Brockovich disbelief, I wish to add that while this might be contributing in part to the cancer epidemic of a small desert town, there's still much more to this story than is being told. Even the EPA is aware of it.

In the 1850's, silver and gold were found miles away from Fallon, in a place Samuel Clemens, known as Mark Twain, made almost as famous as the Comstock mining did when fortunes were made, in towns called Carson City and Virginia City. The miners shipped in large quantities of mercury to process the gold and silver ore. During the processing, the mercury was washed away, into the soil, into the underground waterways. A century later, it had made its way to the Lahontan Valley and the Stillwater Wildlife Refuge, where Fallon sits. In fact, my family's home sat at the end of the street to the wildlife refuge. The water is so contaminated there are signs posted at Lahontan Lake that warn against eating fish caught in the water. Local Fallon residents with wells know to buy and use water from other sources. The local grocery store features a large water dispensing machine outside the front doors because water sales are so constant. We were not told that the city water was contaminated but as of 2004, Fallon does have a new improved city water treatment plant.

According to the EPA, the mercury is in the sediments and adjacent flood plain of the Carson River and in the sediments of Lahontan Reservoir, Carson Lake, Stillwater Wildlife Refuge, and Indian Lakes. In addition, tailings with elevated mercury levels are still present at and around the historic mill sites, particularly in Six Mile Canyon. EPA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, University of Nevada researchers, and others have carried out studies to determine the extent of contamination, evaluate the human health and ecological risks, and better understand the processes that govern the movement and toxicity of the mercury. This story is not over, and in Fallon, I am suggesting there are more cancers being caused by the environmental toxins there than just leukemia and brain cancer. Right now, I have little respect for the journalists covering this story, as the story is not being covered, and the larger truths are not being told. I will be elated to discover a journalist who takes this story on with passion, integrity and intelligence. I will be the first one to tell you of such a person. This is not just happening in one remote town in the middle of a vast and desolate desert, it is happening in little towns and large cities across this nation, with environmental toxins putting residents at cancer risk. And some of the time, in certain circumstances, there is cancer in the water.