CDC releases draft cancer cluster guidelines for public comment

CDC/ATSDR has released a draft of its Guidelines for Examining Unusual Patterns of Cancer and Environmental Concerns for public comment. Comments are open through the Federal Registerexternal icon until July 25, 2022.

CDC/ATSDR conducted extensive scientific literature reviews and gathered comprehensive feedback from community stakeholders, subject matter experts, and state, tribal, local, and territorial partners. This feedback contributed to CDC/ATSDR:

• Placing a greater emphasis on engaging and communicating with community members,
• Recommending health departments consider proactive evaluation of cancer registry data at regular intervals to look for unusual patterns of cancer,
• Replacing the steps in the 2013 Guidelines with new detailed criteria to:
  • address environmental concerns more broadly, and
  • de-emphasize statistical significance as the criterion for moving forward with evaluating potential exposures and cancer rates,
• Identifying and developing tools and templates to support our public health partners when conducting these investigations.

CDC/ATSDR welcomes public comment on these guidelines. For more information about the guidelines and updates, visit Cancer Cluster Guidelines | CDC.