U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, in a letter released yesterday, urged state and federal health officials to continue to monitor cases of a rare blood cancer in northeastern Pennsylvania and vowed to find federal funding to support further study.

Specter’s announcement came a day after a federal health agency announced that a two-year survey found an elevated number of cases of polycythemia vera in Schuylkill, Carbon and Luzerne Counties. But scientists found no link between the disease and toxic chemical dumps in the area.

Specter, a cancer survivor, requested further study because he was concerned with the higher-than-usual number of PV cases in the communities surrounding the McAdoo Superfund site, one of the worst in the nation, deputy press secretary Kate Kelly said.