According to the National Program of Cancer Registries, the range of ovarian deaths among women living in New Mexico is between 9.9 and 14.3 per 100,000, with an 11.9 average rate. The American Indian rate is 13.4, but the non-Hispanic white rate is 14.1. Nationally, the average for all races is 13.1. All statistics reported were for year 2002. Dr. Wiggins’s research showed a rate of 13.4 among American Indian women for the period 1998 through 2002. The rate is neither alarming nor “disproportionately high” as Mr. Kolb suggested. There are other states with higher ovarian cancer rates among women, such as Montana, Washington, Nevada, Alabama, West Virginia, New Jersey and New York. It is similar to the ovarian cancer rate for the entire Western United States, but still lower than the Northeastern U.S.

When discussing cancer rate statistics, Craig Bartels, President of Hydro Resources which hopes to start ISL operations in New Mexico, also did his homework, “When you do the math, the Navajo cancer rate is 30% less than the general U.S. rate. Among the Navajo, 87.5 deaths of every 100,000 are cancer related. The U.S. is 125.6 deaths of every 100,000 are cancer related.”

It is a troubling experience to realize how official and scientific statistics are readily dismissed by radical environmentalists. In Albuquerque, we discussed the University of New Mexico statistics with Southwest Research and Information Center, SRIC, office manager, Annette Aguayo, and editor of their in-house quarterly report, Voices from the Earth. Her response to our undercover editorial team? “Oh, those are government statistics. We don’t trust those.” Her comments makes one wonder where the New Mexico media, such as editor/publisher Joseph Kolb, get their statistics when blaming uranium mining for rising cancer rates. As Don Quixote sang in the musical, Man of La Mancha, “Facts are the enemy of truth.” Might this also apply to the data SRIC has been supplying the local media and disseminating among the Navajos?

Joseph Kolb may have more woes on his mind than uranium mining. Recently, the “Gallup Independent” reported on Kolb’s money woes. His weekly “Gallup Herald” continues to get sued and rack up printing bills. Since October, Intermountain Color, which won a judgment against Kolb’s newspaper of $61,425, has tried to get the debt paid. The Albuquerque Publishing company filed a lawsuit against the Herald, seeking over $27,000 in unpaid invoices. It was reported Kolb owes nearly $11,000 to the “Navajo Times” for printing bills.