Navy ends probe into Guantanamo cancer cases

The Navy is ending an investigation into a cancer cluster at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

It decided to do so after a preliminary investigations found nothing at the prison that would have caused people to get cancer.

{mosads}“Based on the preliminary findings that the types and number of cancers observed and other associated factors, it is unlikely that an environmental or occupational exposure is associated with these cancers,” the Navy said in a press release this week.

“A formal cancer cluster investigation is not supported because the number and various types of cancer cases validated in the review do not meet the criteria established by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.”

In late July, the Navy announced it would look into a reported uptick in cancer diagnoses among people working on trials of detainees at the military detention facility.

The investigation also came after the death of Navy Lt. Commander Bill Kuebler, a former defense lawyer for ex-Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr, who died of cancer at age 44.

In early August, members of the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center reviewed health records and other documents, did a walk-through and sampled the air. The team found the facilities were safe to live and work in, according to the Navy’s press release.

The CDC’s guidelines for defining a cancer cluster stipulate there must be a greater number of cases than expected, be the same type of cancer and be in a defined geographic area, among other rules.

Still, the preliminary investigation found “data gaps exist in available historical documentation,” according to the release. As such, there will be some follow-up environmental testing, tentatively scheduled for later this month.