Joey, my oldest child, is six years old and already quite a clever creator. He can make houses out of sticks and boats out of cardboard boxes. He can build an entire city with toy blocks and crafty cabins with the same Lincoln Logs his daddy used more than 30 years ago. Most recently, Joey has been sharpening his skills with Lego.

Today, while his daddy built him a Lego jet, Joey constructed his own masterpiece. He called it his Cancer Center.

I wasn't around to hear Joey dedicate his building to such an important cause. But I heard about it after the fact when Joey offered me a mini-tour of the structure. I learned that the center has a helicopter landing pad and offices with windows for the employees. I was shown an emergency vehicle with its own system for taking blood from patients, rendering it healthy, and then returning it to the body. And then just as I wanted more -- more details, more specifics, more history on just why he built this cancer center -- Joey's attention moved elsewhere. And so I know nothing more about the cancer center sitting in the playroom of my house.

Cancer is no strange topic for Joey who has been along on my own cancer ride for the past two years -- so perhaps I am the inspiration for his architectural creation. But I suspect the real driving force behind Joey's latest project is the vacant land we passed yesterday. This land is the future site of a new cancer center in our city, and Joey probably heard me talking about the ground breaking ceremony that just took place. Regardless, cancer was on his mind this morning. And while the topic may be far from his mind now -- and I'm sure the building will be demolished by the day's end -- I am touched that for mere moments, Joey was invested in a noble cancer endeavor.

The National Academies' National Research Council has published a 379-page report on trichloroethylene (TCE) link to cancer and other health risks from TCE exposure has strengthened since the 2001 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) draft risk assessment.

Based on information provided by the National Academies, at the time, the EPA was blocked from elevating its assessment of the chemical's risks in people by the Defense Department, Energy Department and NASA, all of which have sites polluted with TCE.

TCE, a solvent used to remove grease from metal parts in airplanes and to clean fuel lines at missile sites is contaminating air, soil, and water at several military installations and hundreds of waste sites around the country.

Until the mid-1970s, it also was used as a surgical anesthetic. TCE can be found in typewriter correction fluid, paint removers, adhesives, and spot removers. According to the report, TCE has also been found at about 60 percent of the nation's worst contaminated sites in the Superfund cleanup program.

The National Academies Press offers Assessing the Human Health Risks of Trichloroethylene: Key Scientific Issues as a 379-page report you can purchase -- read online -- or download as a PDF document here.

Related posts you can find here are: TCE: groundwater contamination in toxic triangle of cancer and Erin Brockovich: talks to homeowners about toxic spill lawsuit.

Each year 350 children are diagnosed with a rare form of thyroid cancer. What are the random odds that three teenagers who live within a few miles of each other would be diagnosed with this particular cancer?

Cincinnati News 5 is reporting that the parents of these teens are asking this question and speculating that it might have an environmental cause. The parents wonder -- could a pipeline that runs through town carrying jet fuel have leaked into the ground water -- or is the Edgewood Middle School all three teens attended built on a site that is contaminated?

The parents have no proof, they have no answers and no one seems to want to help them find out what the problem might be that has led to the unusually high concentration of thyroid cancer cases to be diagnosed in one small group of teens living in such close proximity to one another.

According to one of the parents, all they want is to have water samples tested and they feel their requests have been ignored for the last 18 months. Now city officials plan on meeting with the parents next week to discuss their concerns.

It is frustrating to be ignored when you are asking for help to find the cause of circumstances that appear suspicious. It seems rather than let this matter drag out as long as it has, it would have been so much easier for officials to just look into it when it first came up. At least the parents would not have been left to draw their own conclusions.

The UK's Daily Mail has published an incredible news story featuring a surgical procedure that cuts out tumors so quickly that it allows women to undergo breast surgery to remove breast lumps during their lunch break.

According to an explanation of how this works, in a procedure that lasts at the longest 30 minutes -- using a machine called Soros -- a small incision is made (that heals quickly and leaves no scar); the lump is sliced up into tiny pieces and vacuumed out of the body; and the woman has time left over to presumably have lunch.

This high-tech procedure is currently in clinical trials at the Princess Grace Hospital in London, and is expected to be used in the surgical removal of both benign and malignant tumors up to three centimeters in size. For a detailed step-by-step description, read Breast cancer surgery in your lunch break.

Erin Brockovich-Ellis traveled to Ithaca to tell local homeowners she thinks they have a strong legal case against Emerson Power Transmission for damages resulting from the plant's contamination of the area with the industrial solvent, trichloroethylene, or TCE, a potentially potent carcinogen. It seeps into groundwater. According to Brockovich-Ellis, "the residents are not dealing with a rinky-dink amount of TCE," and went on to indicate that the TCE numbers are some of the highest she has ever seen. A spokesperson for Emerson is quoted as saying that the company was not aware of any lawsuit and had no comment. They might not have a comment but I seriously doubt they are unaware of the potential lawsuit or the arrival of Brockovich-Ellis.

Neither a lawyer or scientist, she has become legendary for her activism and work regarding environmental issues related to cancer incidence. What made her famous was the curious, relentless, tenacious, and fearlessness of her pursuit in exposing the truth of the incident involving Pacific Gas and Electric who had been knowingly exposing residents groundwater to the cancer-causing agent chromium 6 and the cancer deaths that followed. Like I said, because of who she is and the reputation that precedes her, I have difficulty believing the Emerson spokesperson when he states they are not even aware of the arrival of Brockovich-Ellis and the lawsuit her firm is interested in taking on against the company.

In an earlier post, TCE: groundwater contamination in toxic triangle of cancer, we shared a story about residents in Texas who plant small purple crosses in the front lawns of those who have been diagnosed with cancer. They believe they have been poisoned by the TCE that was dumped at a military base for decades and subsequently spread for miles through a shallow aquifer under the 22,000 nearby homes where they live.