2.1
The chapter examines the concerns expressed by members of the Barwon Heads community in relation to their health and possible exposure to chemical pesticides used on the Bellarine Peninsula for agricultural and mosquito-control purposes.
2.2
It starts with reviewing the health concerns and lived experiences of people and families who have lived or holidayed or still reside in Barwon Heads.
2.3
It then discusses the community concerns in relation to the historical use of pesticides in some specific locations. In particular, Barwon Heads residents talked about the mosquito-spraying program, which they see as a plausible cause of the cancers and autoimmune diseases that have been diagnosed in people who they contend have been repeatedly exposed to the chemicals alleged to have been used in the program.
2.4
The chapter also briefly outlines the responses of the health authorities and local council in relation to these community concerns. Their actions and responses are explored in detail in later chapters of the report.
Health concerns
2.5
In late 2016, the Victorian legal firm Gordon Legal, at the request of one individual, started to investigate the incidence of cancer amongst former teachers and students at the Drysdale campus of Bellarine Secondary College. Later, two other individuals approached Gordon Legal and a test case is now underway.
2.6
Reports of a possible cancer cluster on the Bellarine Peninsula started in the media in late 2018. Over the following months, further media articles reported cases of young people and others in the Bellarine area being diagnosed and, in some cases, dying of different types of cancer. For example, in early 2019 the Geelong Advertiser reported there were:
… fears of a cancer scare amid revelations families of former students who have died from cancer are seeking legal advice.
2.7
Some later media reports also noted concerns about a high incidence of autoimmune disease.
2.8
Based on the media reports, the Victorian Chief Health Officer (CHO) reviewed the scientific literature and cancer incidence rates within the Bellarine Peninsula and produced a report which was made public on 30 January 2019. Subsequently, the then Department of Health and Human Services (department) initiated and coordinated an interagency group to respond to the community's concerns.
2.9
At around the same time, a community group, Discovery 3227, was set up to undertake its own investigations. The group collected health data in 2019 and 2020 by talking to community members about their health concerns. Discovery 3227 provided the committee with a register of cancer and immunological diagnoses for 196 individuals. It also submitted this same health data plotted on a map of Barwon Heads.
2.10
At a hearing, Mr Ross Harrison, the spokesperson for Discovery 3227, explained that this spike in illnesses had affected the community as a whole:
We are talking about a very large group of people out that small township, our village, who have become ill and suffered. It's not inconsequential. There is not one person in Barwon Heads that is untouched by what's happened. Everybody knows somebody.
Incidence of cancers
2.11
Concerns about a possible cancer cluster started with a series of media reports about young people from Barwon Heads being affected by different types of cancers. In December 2018, The Age reported that a young woman living on the Bellarine Peninsula had died of acute myeloid leukaemia and that five other young people who lived on the Bellarine Peninsula had also recently died of cancer.
2.12
The next day, the Sunday Age published a second article. This expanded on the first, and it reported that a local family had:
… heard of more than 20 young people in the area, many of whom attended the high school and are now in their late 20s and early 30s, who have been diagnosed with cancer, mainly blood disorders, in recent years.
Cancers in young people
2.13
Some inquiry participants also identified that they were particularly concerned about cancer in young people. For example, Gordon Legal noted that 'the affected cohort comprises to a large extent young adults'.
2.14
One submitter, a local health professional, shared her experience of seeing young people with certain types of cancer:
I had noticed that many young people in Barwon Heads were my patients and they were dying. The most common types that I was seeing were breast, brain and blood cancers.
2.15
Ms Kristie Ainsworth, a long-term resident of Barwon Heads who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1999 at the age of 17, gave evidence to the committee, stressing that she was one of many young people who have suffered from poor health in the area:
In my own primary school class, nine of us were diagnosed with either a cancer or an autoimmune disease, and this is a small school in a small town. In this small town, I have eight of my own friends who have died of cancer.
2.16
Mr Campbell Stephenson lost his sister to acute myeloid leukaemia when she was 26. He explained to the committee that in their street also lived a mother who had lost a child to congenital leukaemia and that, nearby, a friend of his sister’s had also been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia. He concluded:
These blood cancers get seen as just cancer, and I can understand that, but the statistics behind them don't add up. It's got to get to a point where you need to think that this is more than bad luck.
Types of cancer
2.17
Submitters also expressed concerns about cancer incidence in older adults and about different kinds of cancers, including cases of breast cancer, colon cancer, leukaemia, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and brain cancer.
2.18
For example, Discovery 3227 identified concerns about cases of leukaemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, brain cancer, breast cancer and other cancers.
2.19
Gordon Legal submitted that the test case that is underway relates to cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and neuroendocrine cancer.
2.20
In its submission, St Leonards Progress Association mentioned that at least four recent deaths were caused by lung cancer.
2.21
At a hearing in Barwon Heads, community members shared their experiences with the committee, including Ms Kate Bailey, who was diagnosed with cancer last year:
I worked at Barwon Heads Primary School for seven years […] Last year, I ended up in hospital and diagnosed with cancer. I was told that I've got tumours in my brain, my spine, lymphoma. […] They said that they have probably been developing for the last 10 to 15 years, which coincide when I was working at Barwon Heads Primary School.
Autoimmune diseases
2.22
Community members also raised concerns about the incidence of autoimmune disorders in Barwon Heads. In its submission, Discovery 3227 contended that many people have presented with:
… a vast array of autoimmune disease i.e. gut disease (Crohns, Ulcerative Colitis, Inflammable Bowel Disease), thyroid disease.
2.23
Danielle, a mother of two children with autoimmune diseases who moved to Barwon Heads in 1997 when her children were very young, expressed the view that 'ulcerative colitis, Crohn's and irritable bowel syndrome have a very high incidence in this area'.
2.24
Ms Kristie Ainsworth also talked about her belief that Barwon Heads has a very high incidence of autoimmune diseases:
In this small town I have 24, and counting almost daily, friends who have got autoimmune diseases. These are just my close friends and this is just my story. I'm standing here today because something is seriously wrong with this town and it needs to be fixed. I've been a local resident for 39 years and, over this time, I've watched friends die and struggle with autoimmune diseases.
Geographic locations
2.25
The early media coverage reported community concerns about a possible cancer cluster among former students at either Barwon Heads Primary School or the Drysdale campus of Bellarine Secondary College.
Barwon Heads Primary School and Village Park
2.26
Discovery 3227 told the committee that it believed the incidence of cancer and autoimmune disease was very high in the areas of the Barwon Heads township surrounding the 58-acre Village Park.
2.27
Mr Ross Harrison of Discovery 3227 explained to the committee that many local children had played in the Village Park, an area that he alleges was sprayed regularly with a variety of chemicals to kill mosquitoes:
It was like a backyard for many of the locals, in 1991/92 the Geelong Council revamped the basin in the Village Park and built playgrounds and structures to encourage many of the community in that area to stay and recreate in park, many played and made cubby houses in the trees.
2.28
Discovery 3227 said it had identified 37 children who had played in the Village Park and later been diagnosed with cancer or an autoimmune disease.
2.29
Other community members also talked about the Village Park and its vicinities, including Barwon Heads Primary School, as key locations where people now diagnosed with cancers or autoimmune diseases had previously lived or recreated. For example, Ms Ainsworth explained how as children they spent much of their time in the Village Park:
We didn't just ride our bikes through this park. We played in it; basically lived in it. […] It was just Barwon Heads' playground, really.
Drysdale campus of Bellarine Secondary College
2.30
Another area mentioned during the inquiry was the Drysdale campus of Bellarine Secondary College. This location is linked to the Gordon Legal test case, which relates to three cases of cancer connected with the Drysdale campus of Bellarine Secondary College between 1997 and 2007.
2.31
In its written submission, Gordon Legal concluded:
… a reasonable assessment of the available evidence suggests there was an elevated risk of, and incidence of, cancers for the school population of the Drysdale campus of Bellarine Secondary College in the first decade of its operation; (i.e. from 1997,) probably because of the presence in and around the site of multiple organochlorine pesticides.
Responses to community concerns about cancer incidence rates
2.32
As mentioned previously, the department was made aware of the health concerns of the community through the media reports in late 2018 and early 2019. The department and the CHO started to engage with the community through the production of a first epidemiological report in January 2019, using data from the Australian Cancer Atlas. In February 2019 an interagency group was established and a Community Open House event was held in Barwon Heads to directly respond to community questions and concerns.
2.33
Both the CHO’s report and the independent expert advice provided by the Potential Cancer Cluster Expert Advisory Group concluded that there appeared to be no evidence of a cancer cluster.
2.34
A number of individuals and community organisations criticised the January 2019 investigations initiated by the CHO. Issues identified included a perceived failure to interrogate rates of cancer for the appropriate age cohort of young adults, a ‘flawed methodology’, and an apparent mismatch between the community’s experience of local cancer cases and the findings of the epidemiological analysis suggesting there was no cancer cluster.
2.35
In response to these criticisms, a second epidemiological analysis was carried out by Cancer Council Victoria at the request of the CHO. This analysis used data from the Victorian Cancer Registry from 2001 to 2016, including data for young people aged 10 to 34. It reported in October 2019 that there was ‘no material evidence of excess cancer rates’.
2.36
Following the public hearing held on 1 May 2020, at which the committee raised concerns about the period of time considered by Cancer Council Victoria, the CHO agreed to extend the Cancer Council Victoria analysis back as far as 1982. In April 2021 the CHO released the updated report, and he presented the findings at the hearing held in Barwon Heads on 20 April 2021.
2.37
The report update found no substantive evidence of increased incidence other than for breast cancer. For breast cancer, there was an estimated 24 per cent excess incidence relative to the Victorian average.
2.38
Chapter 3 examines in detail the department’s responses and investigations into the community’s health concerns. Chapter 3 also discusses the community's responses to the investigations and their interactions with the department and local authorities.
Historical use of pesticides
2.39
Overall, submitters expressed the view that the cases of cancer and autoimmune disease in Barwon Heads were linked to the historical use of pesticides.
2.40
Initially, community concerns related to the possibility that organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), especially dieldrin, may have caused many cases of cancer in the community. Over time, other concerns emerged, mostly related to the mosquito-spraying programs conducted by the City of Greater Geelong Council (City) and former council entities. Of most concern is the alleged extensive use of organophosphate pesticides (OPs) for mosquito control.
Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs)
2.41
Between November 2016 and September 2018, concerns were raised by Gordon Legal, by Bellarine Secondary College parents, and by other community members about possible historical exposures to multiple OCPs including dieldrin.
2.42
Between the mid-1940s and the 1980s, up to 150 commercial OCPs were registered for use in Australia. The active ingredients in these pesticides were chlorinated hydrocarbon derivatives known as organochlorines. During this period, OCPs such as dieldrin and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) were widely used across Australia and around the world to protect agricultural assets and homes from insect damage.
2.43
During this time dieldrin was used by potato farmers on the Bellarine Peninsula, who rotated potato cropping with grazing beef cattle.
2.44
Dieldrin was largely withdrawn from use in Australia in 1987. In 1987, United States testing of Australian beef exports revealed unsafe levels of dieldrin, including from farms on the Bellarine Peninsula. This led to trade restrictions, the quarantining of 200 farms on the peninsula, and, later, a $1.75 million payout after a successful class action by 51 farmers against the Victorian government for its advice on dieldrin use.
2.45
Since then there has been extensive soil testing on the Bellarine Peninsula which has consistently found very low risks of exposure to OCPs, including dieldrin.
2.46
Gordon Legal submitted its concerns about dieldrin and 12 other OCPs, as well as concerns about the effects of exposure to combinations of these chemicals.
Mosquito-spraying program
2.47
Most submitters were concerned about the chemical insecticides used by local government for mosquito control and a possible link between these chemicals and cancer and autoimmune diseases.
2.48
The department acknowledged that, at the Community Open House event in February 2019, 'community members raised concerns about the historical mosquito-spraying program in the local area of Barwon Heads'.
2.49
For example, one submitter, after reading information about the health concerns people have experienced in the community, stated:
I wonder if my sickness and gut health was damaged from mosquito spray runoff into the Barwon River which flows out and onto Ocean Grove main beach.
Organophosphate insecticides and pyrethroid insecticides
2.50
In particular, inquiry participants identified possible exposures to a number of specific organophosphate-based insecticides which they believe were used widely for mosquito control by local councils over the years.
2.51
Mr Harrison of Discovery 3227 alleged that the council used a range of organophosphates including temephos, malathion, dichlorvos, fenthion, diazinon and chlorpyrifos from the mid-1970s to 2008 and asserted:
These pesticides and chemicals, used over a long period of time by the City of Greater Geelong and its former agencies, are deemed likely carcinogens by IARC [the International Agency for Research on Cancer]. They are known endocrine disruptors and currently acknowledged for DNA methylation, as previously suggested.
2.52
At a hearing, Ms Kristie Ainsworth, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1999, expressed a similar view, stating that: 'the town's cancer and autoimmune cluster is a direct result of the organophosphates used to treat mosquitoes’.
2.53
Another perspective was offered by a local resident who believed that community concerns about organophosphate pesticides were unfounded and not supported by scientific evidence.
2.54
Discovery 3227 also raised concerns about the use of synthetic pyrethroid insecticides. Mr Harrison expressed the view that the disease burden experienced by Barwon Heads residents was 'not the result of one pesticide but a group of OP pesticides and synthetic pyrethroids'.
Methods of application for mosquito-control chemicals
2.55
Mr Harrison of Discovery 3227 told the committee that he believed that OPs and other insecticides were applied by the council through various methods:
The City of Greater Geelong and its former agencies sprayed, fumigated, fogged with residual organophosphate pesticides and man-made pyrethroid insecticides.
2.56
In his written submission to the inquiry, Mr Harrison explained his understanding of the methods of application in more detail, stating his belief that there was a 'rotation of chemicals used on a periodic basis':
… the methods of controlling mosquito’s and its larvae come in basically 3 methods, water treatment, barrier spraying (where mosquito’s roost) and fogging, both of the latter which requires vaporisation of the chemical to target the adult mosquito. The latter methodology took place on a systematic basis for nearly 35 years, of a variety of chemicals but the OP’s spraying continued for 25 years or so […].
Fogging
2.57
A number of other submitters also spoke of their concerns about the methods used by the City to apply mosquito-control chemicals, making reference to regular spraying and ‘fogging’ in particular.
2.58
Ms Samantha Wigmore, a resident of Barwon Heads since 1996, talked about her experience:
I do remember smelling strange odours when walking through the park on numerous occasions … We were aware of the mosquito spraying around town although the council didn’t inform us when and where it was taking place.
2.59
Some submitters expressed the view that fogging was done regularly. For example, Danielle, a Barwon Heads resident between 1997 and 2008, talked about the fogging around the Village Park:
The fogging was definitely a regular feature of the early mornings and going to school. When we woke up in the morning, there was fog clinging around the mangroves.
2.60
Mr Wayne Lockyer, a former resident of Barwon Heads, described his experience of the mosquito-spraying program:
The fog was as thick as smoke whilst it was being pumped out and I assumed that they were fogging for mosquitos … The spraying was always done at night time and I never really gave it much consideration as to what they were spraying.
2.61
However, at a hearing, the City told the committee that fogging was not part of the core program for mosquito control:
Regarding the fogging or application, particularly around Barwon Heads Village Park and the like, it wasn't a part of the core program.[…] The suggestion that [it was] done continuously, all year round over a long period of time, is not true on all the information and evidence we have.
2.62
Additionally, the City explained that pyrethrum, a natural insecticide, was the active ingredient for the fogging, which was used to kill flying, live insects.
Larvicides
2.63
The City told the committee that Abate (temephos) is a larvicide used in water bodies to target mosquito larvae, and that it is not used for fogging adult mosquitoes.
2.64
A former employee of the City who worked on the mosquito-control program in the mid-1990s detailed spraying of marshlands with Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti). He stated that the team mainly used natural products such as VectoBac (Bti) and pyrethrum-based products.
2.65
This individual also submitted that Abate (temephos) granules were used in locations where spraying was difficult to undertake, either in paper bags in wetland areas away from the community, or in canvas fire hose sections placed in storm water drains.
Scepticism
2.66
Not all submitters believed there was a possible link between the historical mosquito-spraying programs and cancer and other diseases. One submitter, a long-term resident of Barwon Heads with qualifications in toxicology, epidemiology and chemical exposures stated:
I am very sceptical about the claims that have been made regarding higher cancer and other disease rates in Barwon Heads (and the broader Bellarine) and any involvement from past mosquito spraying practices. Like many people in the community I have watched the media reports and posts regarding these claims with some disbelief and concern. I have some major problems with the line of investigation of the people raising the concerns, and as far as I can see they have not provided any credible evidence to back-up their accusations.
Responses to community concerns about a link between cancer and the historical use of pesticides
2.67
Both state and local government authorities have responded to the concerns raised by residents about the use of agricultural chemicals and other pesticides on the Bellarine Peninsula and especially in the Barwon Heads area.
2.68
In January 2019, the City undertook a complete review of soil contamination assessments associated with rezoning of farming land to residential land in the Bellarine Peninsula area. This review found that concentrations of organochlorine pesticides including dieldrin and DDT were below the recommended safe levels.
2.69
Also in early 2019, soil testing at Barwon Heads Primary School, commissioned by the Victorian Department of Education and Training in response to community concern, found no concerning residual pesticide levels in the soil.
2.70
Chapter 3 further discusses the initial community concerns about a suspected cancer cluster and the historical use of dieldrin and other organochlorine pesticides and the developing concerns about the incidence of autoimmune diseases. It details the state and local government responses to these concerns, and communications between the community and the authorities.
2.71
Chapter 4 examines the historical use of mosquito insecticides on the Bellarine Peninsula. Chapter 5 discusses issues raised by inquiry participants relating to the alleged use of organophosphate insecticides and pyrethroid insecticides. Chapter 5 also considers whether there may have been any past community exposures to these chemical insecticides, and whether these exposures were likely to have been at levels that could have caused cancer or autoimmune diseases in the Barwon Heads population.
Committee view
Health concerns
2.72
The committee recognises the suffering, stress and sadness experienced by Barwon Heads residents who have experienced cancer either personally or within close family or social networks. Similarly, being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease is very distressing for the person affected and for their family and friends. In a small town like Barwon Heads, each cancer or autoimmune diagnosis can affect the whole community. It is understandable that people question why cancers and autoimmune diseases are happening in their community, especially amongst young people.
2.73
The committee again thanks the Barwon Heads residents who shared their lived experiences with the committee at the Barwon Heads Community Hall. The committee recognises how difficult it can be to share such intimate and painful experiences. These testimonies are important and cannot be underestimated.
2.74
The committee acknowledges that the members of the community who participated in the inquiry have not been satisfied with the Victorian Department of Health's investigations to date in relation to their health concerns. Some community members remain of the view that there is an abnormally high incidence of cancer and autoimmune diseases in Barwon Heads.
Mosquito-spraying program
2.75
The committee acknowledges that the pesticides allegedly used in the mosquito-spraying program, especially organophosphate pesticides, are the main source of concern for the Barwon Heads community. Furthermore, the committee understands that the community is particularly concerned that it is the methods of application, especially fogging, that may have caused cancers or autoimmune disorders.
2.76
The committee acknowledges that the Victorian Department of Health and the City of Greater Geelong do not agree with some of the evidence given by community members and by the community group Discovery 3227.