A new Air Force study has found what appears to be a higher rate of a rare brain and spinal cord cancer among children of service members stationed at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico.
The nearly two-year study examined pediatric brain cancers at the base after concerns about a possible cancer cluster were raised in 2022. The Air Force found three cases of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, and the closely related diffuse midline glioma, or DMG — rare, aggressive and possibly fatal tumors — among children with parents stationed at Cannon over a 10-year period.
Those cases indicated a higher rate of the disease compared to children of troops at other installations and the general civilian population between 2010 and 2020. However, the service concluded that the study's findings, which were publicly released earlier this month, had a sample size that was too small to draw significant conclusions, according to a press release from the 27th Special Operations Wing.
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“When conducting these studies, the National Cancer Institute tells us that having 16 or more cases of the same or similarly caused cancers provides more stable statistics and reliable results,” Col. Eric Chumbley, chief of the division of aerospace medicine with Air Force Special Operations Command, said in the statement. “In other words, with fewer than 16…
