European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 6, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday july 6, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 9 town mystified by High cancer rate Rosamond Calif. A this former Gold mining town in the High desert has a childhood can cer rate five times the average for a town its size and health officials say they Are mystified As to a cause. The Only known similarity among the cases is that All the children lived in the City during the same period said Gary Euler Public health epidemiologist for Kern county. There is no link to any particular area or play ground Euler said. If we cannot link any common denominator then it s not Likely that they Are caused by the same Factor or set of factors. Then they Are not a True cancer  eight children were stricken from 1976 to 1986, and Only one has survived. California health serv ices department officials say they re especially perplexed by four children who All contracted a rare form of cancer of the brain Stem known As medal lob Latoma. The City s average rate of cancer cases is 72 per100,000 annually Tor people 20 and younger com pared to 14 per 100,000 a year in an average Community Euler said. Rosamond about 60 Miles North of los Angeles has a population of 2,869, according to the 1980census. Figures for the 20-and-younger population were unavailable. State health officials Are testing soil from some Industrial Sites said Ron Baker spokesman for the toxic substances control division of the health serv ices department. Rosamond is known mostly for its former Gold mines. Mercury and sodium cyanide both toxic were used to extract Gold from Ore and cyanide instill used said Tom Anderson a senior geologist for the California division of mines and geology. Use of new fuels urged to fight greenhouse effect Golden Colo. A solar Energy and fuels made from crops can help com Bat the greenhouse effect that some scientists claim is partly responsible for this year s drought say officials at the solar Energy research Institute. But scientists at the Institute caution that it will take several decades to re verse damage already done to the environment. There is no Quick fix. That s one of the very scary things about global weather change said or. Tom Bathe manager of the Institute s office of analysis and evaluation. Scientists say the greenhouse effect is caused by pollutants created by the burning of Fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide represents about half of the pollutants other gases such As nitrous oxide and methane comprise the rest. The pollutants create an envelope around the Earth that does not allow reflected heat to leave the atmosphere and causes temperatures to grow warmer. James Hansen climatologist at Nasa s Goddard Institute of space sciences told the Senate Energy committee recently that the greenhouse effect will make droughts like this year s More Likely. He and other scientists have said that 1988 is Likely to set a record for global average temperatures. Scientists have observed that the four hottest years to Date globally All have occurred in the 1980s. Worst Case scenarios by scientists show average temperatures rising 3 to 9 degrees by the Middle of the next Century and seas rising about a foot As the Polar icecaps melt. Even if we were Able to shut off All crop conditions 1 very poor to poor Montana Spring wheat 20% Good to excellent North Dakota Spring wheat 32% Missouri soybeans Indiana com 2% Indiana soybeans Illinois com 43%, Illinois soybeans Iowa soybeans 34% the Carbon dioxide and methane produced today we would still face significant change in the world s weather be cause of the existing greenhouse " Bathe said. Congress created the Institute when Oil prices shot up in the 1970s. Its Mission was to find clean Energy sources that would be alternatives to Fossil fuels. Staff and budget cuts during the Reagan administration have taken a toll on the Agency but its scientists Are continuing their research. Some of the Institute s proposals for curbing the greenhouse effect include widespread use of biomass liquid fuels from crops. The crops would absorb As much Carbon dioxide while they Are being grown As they would produce when burned As transportation fuels. Use of photovoltaic cells Man made Silicon chips that chemically con Vert natural Light to electricity to re place Fossil fuel fired Power plants. Using Thermal systems which convert heat captured directly from the Sun to replace Fossil fuel heat sources. Although Coal is the biggest Carbon dioxide producer among the Fossil fuels everybody expects Coal to be the most rapidly expanding component in the future Bathe said. Barges still struggling on Mississippi by the associated press Barge operators struggled to keep traffic flowing steadily on the drought lowered Mississippi River As two states wrangled Over a proposal to divert water there from the great lakes. But there was Good news from Ohio Low water Levels Are killing off mosquitoes. Independence Day traffic on the Mississippi was steady with two groundings reported in the Memphis,tenn., area coast guard spokesman Dave schuster said monday. They re losing hundreds of thousands of dollars each Day i guess they figure they be got to go no mat Ter what he said of towboat operators who can move fewer barges because of shallow spots caused by the drought. Dredging closed the River near Greenville miss., and North of Memphis schuster said. In Wisconsin gov. Tommy g. Thompson has threatened to ask the supreme court to halt proposals for increased diversion of Lake Michigan water to replenish the shrinking Mississippi. An aide said the governor fears temporary diversion through Chicago and Down the Illinois River in response to the current drought might become a Perma nent practice. He said the move is also a feint to get More water to disperse River waste in the Chicago area. Thompson had received reports the army corps of engineers might quadruple the diversion at Chicago in the next few Days to fight the Low water conditions troubling Mississippi River Barge tows said James Klauser Secretary of the department of administration. The navigation of sewage Down the Chicago River is the Only navigation Issue Here he said. It s solely a matter of Flushing  in Louisiana environmental officials said they would Monitor the Mississippi More closely for Salt and toxic substances As the drought continues to de crease the Freshwater flow. We re concerned about the toxics going Down the River and Are seriously taking a look at it now said Maureen o Neill of the department of environmental Quality in Baton Rouge. We re not seeing the same dilution Factor normally present. Levels of toxic substances still Are Low but the environmental Agency will increase monthly sampling to weekly o Neill said. Communities that get their drinking water from the lower part of the Mississippi Are seeing Chloride concentrations Rise As Salt water moves rapidly up the River she said. In Ohio an agricultural agent said mosquitoes Are having a Tough time Breeding. There s definitely not As Many mosquitoes around said Randy e. James. There s just no place for them to Breed no  in St. Louis the Low level of the Mississippi helped the Delta Queen recapture the glory it had lost in re cent years by churning to Victory in an annual River boat  Mississippi Queen trailed the Delta Queen in the half mile race to the Gateway Arch. The record River Low worked to our advantage because the Mississippi Queen is heavier Delta Queen Captain Garland Shewmaker said. Storms stretch across much of Central . By the associated press storms soaked Eastern Texas Louisiana and Georgia on monday lightning blacked out a Colorado Mountain City and temperatures soared in Michigan and South Dakota. Rain showers and occasional thunderstorms reached from Western South Carolina and Georgia across Eastern Texas and Southeast Oklahoma. Showers and thunderstorms also developed in the Dakotas Southern Montana Northern Wyoming and Northwest Colorado As Well As Northwest new  strikes caused a Power outage affecting much of Craig  Monroe la., 3.75 inches of rain fell be tween 5 and 7 . The hard dry ground did t absorb the  produced 214 inches of rain Between North Houston and Humble Texas and about 1 a inches in Western and Northwest Harris county  heavier rainfall during the 6 hours end ing at 2 . Included 1 inches at Macon ga., and almost one half Inch at Mcallen and Long View Texas