Residents of Limerick's inner city are more than twice as likely to contract smoking-related cancers than people living in outlying areas of the city, according to a new report.
The report also found that in the area around Askeaton, where inquiries have been held into livestock deaths, there is no evidence of higher cancer rates.
The parts of the inner city worst affected by cancers of the lung, bladder and oesophagus include areas where many of the residents live in local authority housing and poverty rates are higher than normal.
The report into the incidence of cancer in the mid-west region over the period 1994-2002 was carried out by the National Cancer Registry of Ireland and the Health Service Executive.
Although cancer rates across the region for the period were 10 per cent lower than the national average, the report found that cancer rates in parts of Limerick city were significantly higher than in outlying areas.
The director of public health in HSE West, Dr Tessa Greally, said yesterday that cancers of the lung, bladder and oesophagus, all smoking-related, were more than twice as high in the inner city as in outlying areas.
Dr Greally also revealed that the incidence of all types of cancers in inner city areas of Limerick was some 16 per cent higher in the period compared to the average in the mid-west.
The most frequent types of cancer recorded in the report in the inner city areas included colorectal, lung and bladder cancers as well as melanoma.
"There is a kind of a polarisation in cancer rates between inner city Limerick and outlying areas.
"There are higher rates in the inner city and lower rates in the suburbs," said Dr Greally.
The director cited lifestyle conditions including smoking, dietary patterns and exposure to sun without adequate protection as reasons for the higher rates of cancer in the inner city.
Dr Greally also accepted that many of the areas worst affected by cancer in Limerick included some of the local authority estates where poverty and crime levels are higher than average.
"Some areas where there is poverty and a general lack of amenities come out all the time in these surveys.
"The electoral divisions with significantly higher rates of cancer are those with a higher proportion of local authority housing," said Dr Greally.
Other key findings showed there was no increased risk of cancer to residents of Askeaton and surrounding areas in Co Limerick following serious concerns about animal health.
In the early 1990s, farmers in west Limerick began to experience severe health problems in cattle and horses. They blamed local industrial pollution for many mysterious animal deaths after some farmers suffered heavy losses of livestock. However, a multi-agency investigation led by the Environmental Protection Agency blamed farming practices for the deaths and not industrial pollution.
The report found no increased risk of cancer to residents of Askeaton or the surrounding areas between 1994-2002.