Monday, September 26, 2016

Zika Secrecy: it is not about a mosquito, it is about cancer clusters in Florida ... by gimleteye

An extraordinary Miami Herald report today, "Mayors say state told them to keep Zika sites secret", points in the direction of the Florida Department of Health and the Rick Scott administration's steadfast refusal to disclose information related to cancer clusters in Florida; specifically, rare pediatric cancer clusters.

The state is withholding very important information from citizens, taxpayers and voters because five separate, independent statistical analyses have concluded that cancer clusters are real, and that at least one rare pediatric cancer cluster is in Miami-Dade. The state, in the Herald report, cites the prohibition against releasing public health data for "ongoing epidemiological investigations".

The state's tactic -- secrecy -- is to keep cancer incidence, rates, and locations "ongoing" so that the people running around wearing pink ribbons and jogging shorts aren't also armed with facts.

If the state releases information on Zika sites, it cannot continue to stonewall against release of rare pediatric cancer sites. Right now, the reason that the public is quiet on the cancer cluster issue is that the state will not release the block level census data that would allow -- like with Zika -- a vector map.

The Miami Herald report also catches Agriculture Secretary Adam Putnam in a lie. The mayors claim that Putnam was one of the state officials who told them to keep the Zika sites, secret. Now, Putnam appears to be "dumbfounded". (The Herald doesn't call it, a lie.) That's Adam Putnam, who wants to be the next governor of Florida. That's Adam Putnam, who took secret trips to the King Ranch in Texas -- hosted by one of the state's biggest polluters -- and who slammed the door in a reporter's face when questioned.

If you are not outraged, voters and taxpayers, you are not paying attention.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are all very worried. It could be that the WHOLE county is a cancer cluster.

Anonymous said...

Miami Beach government is loaded with attorneys. They are hired to hide stuff. I'm surprised the city hasn't sued a puddle to deflect public scrutiny. This story is going to have legs. Public disclosure in a digital age is getting worse. I know cities contract outside technology groups to provide data to the public and then delete or alter the data banks. They like to play with the SQL server as we call it.

Anonymous said...

Where is our local Snowden when we need him?

David said...

Ballers is moving to LA due to Zika-related insurance costs.