To the editor:
The recent New York Times article about the incidence of childhood cancer in Johnson County calls out for a firm rebuttal.
In the piece it states that “At 21.7 cases of pediatric cancer per 100,000 children, Johnson County is in the 80th percentile among counties nationwide, according to 2011-2015 from the National Cancer Institute.” There are 3,007 counties in the U.S. In plain English, that means that roughly 600 have higher rates.
The world is filled with inexplicable randomness and being in the 80th percentile is absurdly far from medical statistical significance. If anyone is inclined to place a $1,000 wager with me, I’m prepared to bet that if we select 50 medical conditions at random at least 3 of them will fall in the top 20th percentile and at least 3 will fall in the bottom 20th percentile of the nation as compared to Johnson County.
I was prompted to write this letter to voice my outrage at the cynicism of a political hit piece that preys on the terrible pain of grieving parents in order to extract political gain. Franklin, Indiana is a scrappy little town trying to pull itself up by its bootstraps. I hope you won’t take this lying down! Incidentally, I’m a registered Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton.
John Linnemeier
Bloomington
