Deal to allow more tests near Ohio cancer cluster

CLYDE, Ohio (AP) — The owner of a former park in an area of northern Ohio where cancer has sickened dozens of children for more than a decade is agreeing to allow tests of the site.

This comes just weeks the announcement that soil samples at the now-closed park showed high levels of a chemical believed to increase the risk of certain cancers.

The former park near the town of Clyde had been owned by the Whirlpool Corp., which has a washing machine factory in the town.

The Sandusky Register reports that Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool and the current land owner reached a verbal agreement to allow more tests.

Nearly 40 young people have been diagnosed with cancer since the mid-1990s in a 12-mile-wide circle that’s between Cleveland and Toledo.