DESPITE widespread public concern, there is no scientific evidence that asbestos in the Prospect area was responsible for cancer which later developed in students at the former Prospect Girls School, Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann said yesterday.

Following reports that a cluster of police officers who were in barracks near the school in Prospect had fallen victim to various forms of cancer 20 years later and after a seemingly high incidence of breast cancer afflicted former students at the school, members of the public and MPs demanded an investigation be conducted.

"We have reviewed cancer deaths but have not found any evidence of a cluster of cancer deaths at Prospect," the Chief Medical Officer said yesterday. "We have not found a clear link or a suggestion that there is a case at Prospect.

"(For that to be the case) we have to be talking about the exact same cancer (in all the women) and we haven't found that. There has been a suggestion that a number of women had breast cancer; that there was a cluster or a group of women at Prospect who had some factor in common and died of cancer, but for that to be so we must be able to identify the population, confirm what the cause of each (cancer) was and determine whether there were common factors there that could be related.

"It's difficult to get a detailed population of women to study.

"We had some of the names of some of the women, but in reality, not all of them died of cancer and not all who did die of cancer died of the same type of cancer. Also, there wasn't a clear relationship between the asbestos and the cancer (that these women developed) in that period of time."

Some 85 per cent of cancers are caused by environmental factors including asbestos, chemicals, weed killers and paint fumes. A Government edict 30 years ago mandated new buildings must be protected with asbestos and were, as a result, constructed with asbestos airconditioning vents. There have been cancer cases associated with buildings erected during that time.

Dr. Cann said that the information was given two different agencies. Each reached the same conclusion. The problem, he said, was that as in any small community, community ties could often make a problem seem more widespread than it actually was.

"I want to emphasise that we continually monitor cancer," he said. "Our aim was to discover whether there was an increase of breast cancer in Bermuda and whether there was an abnormal pattern of breast cancer here.

"We found there was no increased incidence of breast cancer. When you live in a small community, and everyone knows everyone, people are more aware of everyone else's condition. People (have made assumptions) because they knew this person and because this person attended here and died of cancer.

"They have come up with the conclusion that there was a problem. But you must look at it objectively and scientifically.

"Sometimes perceptions may be a little different from reality. You must look at the ratio of incidences as compared to the size of the population. In terms of a clear increase in incidences of cancer here, or an abnormal pattern of breast cancer here, we do not have a greater number (than in any other place). It's important in small countries to look at the rates and not the absolute numbers because it's the rate at which cancer (occurs) that's critically important."