The recent New York State Department of Health evaluation of lung cancer statistics in Seneca County should not be interpreted as proving that emissions from the Seneca Meadows Landfill do not cause cancer because the study was never designed to answer that question.

It was a statistical review of cancer rates — not a causation study. It compared lung cancer rates in certain geographic areas with statewide rates but did not measure residents’ exposure to landfill contaminants, the amount inhaled, the duration of exposure, or whether those exposures increased the risk of developing lung cancer.

That distinction is critical. In science, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Because the NYSDOH study was not designed to determine whether landfill emissions contributed to lung cancer, it cannot be cited as proof that no relationship exists.

But the larger problem is that the public debate has been framed incorrectly from the start.

We are told the question is “Did the landfill cause cancer?” But proving that with scientific or legal certainty is practically impossible because it requires enormous resources to reconstruct a lifetime of individual exposures. If we wait for that level of proof before taking action, we are effectively treating neighborhood children like laboratory mice while waiting for the body count to become scientifically convincing — which is exactly what we are doing now.

The question that truly matters is whether exposure to landfill emissions increased — or had the potential to increase — the risk of cancer among nearby residents. That is the central public health question because it determines whether people were placed at........

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