After fears something was causing cancer rates to spike in the township of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, the Huron County Health Unit says those worries are unfounded.
In a news release on Wednesday, officials say they have no evidence of a cancer cluster after investigating since January.
Public health epidemiologist, Erica Clark, says cancer rates in the Township and Huron County are on par with Ontario’s rates.
“The top three cancer types reported by ACW residents were breast, colon, and prostate cancer. These are among the top four types of cancer diagnosed each year in Huron County and Ontario,” she says.
The health unit started the investigation after receiving information from a concerned resident.
Officials had asked residents, both former and current, if they had cancer, or knew someone who had, to call the health unit.
They then plotted all the reported cases on a map to see if people with a specific type of
cancer were clustered in any part of the township. There was no evidence that a type of cancer was clustered in a small part of the municipality.
Since the preliminary investigation did not find any evidence of a cancer cluster, the health unit will not take any further steps, officials say.
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh has about 5,600 residents living in a largely agricultural area bordering the Lake Huron shoreline.
