From PEnglish@dhs.ca.gov Wed May 24 15:35:17 2000 Received: from mxu4.u.washington.edu (mxu4.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.05/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id PAA37250 for ; Wed, 24 May 2000 15:35:16 -0700 Received: from dhs-exc-imc-01.dhs.cahwnet.gov ([158.96.35.75]) by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.02/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id PAA24169 for ; Wed, 24 May 2000 15:35:15 -0700 Received: by DHS-EXC-IMC-01 with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2448.0) id ; Wed, 24 May 2000 15:34:00 -0700 Message-ID: <1352824C26C2D3119BCF0008C7A4839F0168AC3F@DHS-EXC-MSG-09> From: "English, Paul (DHS-EHIB)" To: "'waphgis@u.washington.edu'" Subject: RE: Issue of Confidentiality in Small Area GIS mapping Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 15:35:00 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2448.0) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Tatia: Below is a description of political pitfalls which might happen without caution.... Paul English, PhD Environmental Health Investigations Branch California Department of Health Services 1515 Clay St., Suite 1700 Oakland, CA 94612 (510) 622-4508 phone (510) 622-4505 fax www.dhs.cahwnet.gov/ps/deodc/ehib/index.htm =20 NEW YORK: HEALTH OFFICIALS MAP BREAST CANCER BY ZIP CODE The New York State Health Department yesterday released maps showing breast cancer rates according to ZIP codes-the first time such mapping has been produced in detail, the New York Times reports. Officials created the maps using cancer cases diagnosed from 1993 through 1997 by the ZIP code of each patient's residence. Long Island, "where the disease has become a potent political and public health issue," exhibited the highest rates of breast cancer. Officials determined that Suffolk, Nassau and Rockland Counties, as well as parts of Westchester County, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Rochester and Buffalo, were "areas of elevated incidence not likely due to chance." State Health Commissioner Dr. Antonia Novello pointed out that the maps have limitations, saying they "can suggest areas for more research, but they cannot by themselves tell us the causes of cancers." Novello said that the project, which began in 1998, moved slowly in part because of sloppy record-keeping at the state's cancer registry. NOT GOOD ENOUGH? Some criticized the health department, saying that the "state still had not achieved one of the project's original goals: to compare spots where cancer rates are elevated to the locations of known sources of pollution." Assembly member Richard Brodsky (D), a primary advocate of the mapping, called the maps "useless," adding, "They don't really identify cancer clusters, which occur at the neighborhood level, well below the ZIP code level" (Perez-Pena, 4/12). He said, "When we started this process the idea was to identify these cancer clusters very specifically and to identify the environmental factors that may be causing them. These maps don't do either one. It's a sin for the state to have this information and to withhold it." Some critics went so far as to accuse Gov. George Pataki =AE of withholding such information "because the results could implicate polluting industries" (Fagin, Newsday, 4/12). Health department officials said they will eventually create maps that match cancers to pollutants. To view the maps, type=20 http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/cancer/csii/nyscsii.htm into your browser (New York Times, 4/12). -----Original Message----- From: tchay [mailto:tchay@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu] Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2000 2:36 PM To: waphgis@u.washington.edu Subject: Issue of Confidentiality in Small Area GIS mapping Dear Colleagues, My name is Tatia Chay and I am an MPH-Epidemiology candidate at the George=20 Washington University School of Public Health. I am currently working to map=20 breast cancer incidence and mortality using GIS for DC and have run into some=20 obstacles due to the sensitive nature of certain addresses in the District.=20 Does anyone have any suggestions for circumventing this issue.=20 Thank you, Tatia Tatia Chay MPH-Candidate School of Public Health and Health Services=20 George Washington University =09 .