Soil testing at the ABC's abandoned Brisbane headquarters has failed to bring investigators any closer to finding the cause of a breast cancer cluster among employees who worked at the site.
The studios, at Toowong in Brisbane's inner west, were abandoned shortly before Christmas 2006 after an investigation showed breast cancer rates in workers at the site were six times the national average.
Cancer expert Professor Bruce Armstrong, who led the initial investigation, said soil tests ordered last year had not detected any traces of chemicals which may cause breast cancer.
Seventeen women who worked at the site have so far been diagnosed with breast cancer but investigations have been unable to determine a possible cause for the cluster.
Professor Armstrong said the soil tests covered metals, such as arsenic and lead, pesticides such as dieldrin (similar to DDT), and PCBs - a group of banned organic compounds.
In each case the levels found were well below ordinary levels, he said.
Investigators are now awaiting the results of additional magnetic field testing of equipment used by staff and a survey for ionising radiation at the Toowong site.
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