MARION, Ohio — An extensive, four-year study by the Ohio Health Department failed to determine if toxic contamination on River Valley school property contributed to a high leukemia rate among graduates.

        The department released its report at a meeting Thursday night of a community-advisory group studying contamination issues at River Valley and elsewhere in Marion.

        There are no further studies planned, department spokesman Jay Carey said Friday.

        “We know more about this site than any site in Ohio, and we can't find the one single cause of these leukemia cases,” Mr. Carey said.

        River Valley's high school and middle school sit on part of a former military depot where chemical waste was dumped for years. An investigation of the contamination and school leukemia cases began in 1997.

        The health department study turned up 83 leukemia cases in Marion County, including nine high school graduates.

        “Despite an exhaustive study, making use of the best available science, we were unable to identify one single cause” for the leukemia, state Health Director J. Nick Baird said in a statement.

        The leukemia study looked at high school graduates from 1963 to 2000. The study later was expanded to look at all leukemia cases in Marion County between Jan. 1, 1992, and Dec. 31, 1999, using data from the state cancer registry.

        A total of 47 leukemia victims participated in the study, including all nine graduates. Two people refused to participate, and health officials weren't able to interview 34 others.

        “There are 56,000 new cases of cancer each year in Ohio,” Robert Indian of the Health Department told the advisory group. “The way cancer works, there are usually a number of factors at work.”

        Roxanne Krumanaker, who had four children attend River Valley schools, accused the state of predetermining the outcome of the study because it didn't want to be held responsible. Her daughter, a 1983 graduate, was diagnosed with leukemia in 1993, but is now cancer free.

        Ms. Krumanaker blames the leukemia on the school site.

        “It turned out exactly like I thought it would. If you would have done the study solely on River Valley graduates, there would have been no question on what the cause was,” she said.

        River Valley, a 1,700-student district east of Marion, plans to build a new high school and middle school on a different site by August 2003.

        The most heavily contaminated areas of the school campus have been restricted, but school and other officials have determined it is safe for the students to remain in the current schools for the next two years.

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