Cancer and the Pesticide Plant
Read the following scenario:
You are the chief epidemiologist at a...

Question

Cancer and the Pesticide Plant
Read the following scenario:
You are the chief epidemiologist at a local county health department. One 
day, you receive a phone call from Mrs. Hudson, a resident of the northern part 
of a nearby town with a population of 25,000. She believes there is a cancer 
cluster in her community. Here’s why:

Mrs. Hudson’s sister, who lives less than a mile away, was recently 
diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

A neighbor of Mrs. Hudson’s sister recently died of leukemia.

Mrs. Hudson knows at least 10 other cases of cancer in the community, 
including a child afflicted with a brain tumor, several cases of prostate 
cancer, a woman with cervical cancer, and a man with malignant melanoma.

Mrs. Hudson suspects that the cause may be a pesticide manufacturing plant 
that has been operating on the outskirts of the city for the past year.
She demands that the county health department investigate this situation.

Based on the above information, compose a letter of no more than three pages 
addressing Mrs. Hudson. Your letter must either confirm or allay Mrs. Hudson’s 
fears. Provide adequate justification for your stance. If you feel Mrs. Hudson’s 
fears are justified, reassure her by explaining the actions that your health 
department will take to resolve the situation. However, if the situation does 
not indicate a cancer cluster, provide enough reasons to allay Mrs. Hudson’s 
fears.

Assignment 2 Grading Criteria

Maximum 
Points

Presented a clear argument, in the 
appropriate tone and writing style of the form of a letter, for or against the 
pesticide plant being the cause of cancer.

15

Justified conclusion by 
giving reasons and backing up your reasons by citing authoritative sources.

15

Presented a structured document 
free of spelling and grammatical errors.

5

Properly cited sources 
using the APA format.

5

Total:

40

Robert · Accepted Answer

California County Health Department 
 PO Box 997377, MS 0500 
Sacramento, CA 95899-7377
Mrs. Hudson 
Broad Street 
Nevada City 
California 95959
21-July-2012 
Dear Mrs. Hudson, 
We would like to inform you that since; your concerns regarding development of cancer in your 
community and doubts that such a high frequency of development of cancer might be owing to 
the  production and application of Creosote pesticide made by “Creosote pesticide manufacturing 
plant, Nevada” running on the outer edge of Nevada could be termed reasonable as; according to 
previous research studies too, there might be a potential relationship between pesticide exposure 
and development of cancer such as; lymphoma or multiple myeloma, brain cancer, prostate 
cancer, or bladder cancer etc.  (Maroni & Fait, 1993) hence; to analyze the hypothesis „there is a 
positive correlation between cancer development and pesticide manufacturing and application 
process in Nevada town” we carried out an epidemiological research in your community.  Aim of 
our study was to examine the risk of cancer among the people residing in Nevada town
community with the assistance of ecology based study. With the assistance of the “Nevada town 
cancer-registry”, we could get an idea about the age-regulated occurrence rate ratios for 
communities with a medium area under pesticide production as well as application (>5 to 20 
percent) and a large area under pesticide production and application (>20 percent) in compare to 
communities with a small area under pesticide production and application (>0 to 5 percent). In a 
side study,

Cancer and the Pesticide Plant Read the following scenario: You are the chief epidemiologist at a local county health department. One day, you receive a phone call from Mrs. Hudson, a resident of the...

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Assignment 2 Grading Criteria	Maximum Points
Presented a clear argument, in the appropriate tone and writing style of the form of a letter, for or against the pesticide plant being the cause of cancer.	15
Justified conclusion by giving reasons and backing up your reasons by citing authoritative sources.	15
Presented a structured document free of spelling and grammatical errors.	5
Properly cited sources using the APA format.	5
Total:	40