US - New Jersey: Nearly 100 people at this US school got brain tumours — a survivor demands answers

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/he...0074853fd4ea33

Nearly 100 people at this US school got brain tumours — a survivor demands answers
A cancer survivor is vowing to untangle the twisted mystery of why 94 people at the same school developed “extremely” rare brain tumours.
Andrew Court and New York Post
4 min read
April 15, 2022 - 3:35PM

A cancer survivor is vowing to untangle the twisted mystery of why almost 100 people associated with a New Jersey high school have developed “extremely” rare malignant brain tumours.

Al Lupiano is among the 94 former staff and students from Colonia High School in the Woodbridge Township School District who have been stricken by the devastating diagnoses in recent years.

“I will not rest until I have answers,” Lupiano, 50, declared in an interview with NJ.com and the Star Ledger on Thursday. “I will uncover the truth.”

Among the others diagnosed with brain cancer was Lupiano’s younger sister, who passed away from the disease in February at the age of 44...

[Emily]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/nj-hs-looks-into-mysterious-cancer-cluster-after-100-diagnosed-with-brain-tumors/ar-AAWlnS3

Cancer Cluster Probe at NJ HS Underway After 100+ Diagnosed With Brain Tumors
NBC New York
Brian Thompson - Yesterday 4:41 PM

There are growing concerns over a medical mystery at a New Jersey high school following dozens of diagnosis of brain tumors dating back decades.

Every inch of Colonia High School -- from buildings to fields -- is being tested for radiation to determine if there is a link between the school and the number of cancer cases diagnosed amongst former students and staff.

Al Lapino, a graduate of the high school, believes there's a link between the school and brain tumors diagnosed in 108 people over a period of three decades, ending in the early 2000s.

"If we can enrich science by showing that an unknown compound is in high concentration and link it to primary brain tumors, maybe we can protect others, remove it from our environment to make sure it never happens again," he said.

Lapino, who is also an environmental scientist, and his wife Michelle -- both graduates of the high school -- were diagnosed with benign brain tumors 20 years apart. Lapino's sister, also a graduate of the high school, died recently from brain cancer...

[sharon sanders]

bump this

[Emily]

https://www.foxnews.com/media/dr-siegel-students-nj-high-school-pressing-answers

April 19, 2022 12:31am EDT
Dr. Siegel: Students at NJ high school with cluster ties to rare tumor are pressing for answers
Dr. Siegel revealed the high rate of tumors among former staff and students of a New Jersey high school
By Hannah Grossman | Fox News

...
Dr. Marc Siegel, an internal medicine doctor at NYU Langone, said the prevalence of brain tumors among over 100 alumni of a New Jersey high school was "a cluster" and added that it was possible the tumors could have been caused by environmental pollution.

"Middlesex sampling plant, which is less than 10 miles away from this high school, is part of was part of the Manhattan Project that made the first atomic bomb. And they had uranium there," he said.

Siegel explained that the pollution wasn't cleared out appropriately for over a decade. "Reports were that they didn't appropriately decontaminate that that Middlesex plant until more than 10 years," he said on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."...

[Emily]

https://nj1015.com/years-before-cancer-scare-at-colonia-high-radioactive-rock-made-headlines-in-nj/

Years before cancer scare at Colonia High, radioactive rock made headlines in NJ
Joe Votruba Published: April 18, 2022
...

According to the Associated Press, a simple classroom demonstration of a Geiger counter resulted in panic when the radiation detector showed troubling results when a loud clamor was heard over a rock. The high school was evacuated and a HAZMAT team secured the rock in a lead-lined box.
...

In a conversation with NJSpotlight, Al Lupiano said that a secret World War II lab in Middlesex Borough, called the Middlesex Sampling Plant, is said to have been used during the Manhattan Project, a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons.

Potentially contaminated soil had been removed from the Middlesex Borough property over the years, with some of the soil used for construction right around the time of the construction of Colonia High School....

[sharon sanders]

bump this

[Emily]

The spectrum of brain tumors and cancers at this school remind me of the BP Amoco research center case.

https://www.chemicalonline.com/doc/chemicals-may-have-caused-brain-tumors-at-bp-0001

News | August 20, 1999
Chemicals May Have Caused Brain Tumors at BP Amoco Naperville Complex, But Study Cannot Identify the Culprits
...

The study noted that researchers who developed glioma had worked with low-level ionizing radiation and n-hexane more frequently than the control group. "It is unlikely ionizing radiation or n-hexane alone were responsible, but rather something used in combination with those materials," says Kastory.
...

Not an Anomaly
The study found that white males working in Building 503 from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s were eight times more likely to suffer brain cancer than the general population. All six people with glioma were male chemical researchers in the Building 500 complex.

All were long-term employees who had worked at the center between nine and 24 years. All worked in the building between the mid-70s and early-80s. Many of them worked on projects involving similar chemicals and agents.

In addition to the six people diagnosed with glioma, six other Building 500 researchers had benign intracranial tumors. These included two Schwannomas, two meningiomas, and two pituitary adenomas.

https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/September-2018/Cancer-Cluster/

Cancer Cluster
Twenty years ago, Chicago explored the proliferation of brain tumors among Amoco researchers at a Naperville facility.
By Phoebe Mogharei

September 19, 2018, 1:34 pm

In the 1980s and 1990s, Amoco Research Center in Naperville was at the center of a medical mystery: The employees there were developing brain tumors at an alarming rate. At least 19 did so — five of whom worked on the same floor of the same chemical research building. “If the entire country had the same cancer rate as that building, brain cancer cases would increase sevenfold,” Jonathan Eig wrote in “Nightmare in Building 503” (September 1998). An excerpt from that article:

A wristwatch. Gold face, gold band. Something the company presented him in honor of long years of service. The owner has just finished a barrage of medical tests, and the doctor has delivered the worst possible news. It is a brain tumor, it is malignant, and it is already quite large. He’ll be lucky to live a year. As he is leaving the doctor’s office, the man’s wife reaches into her purse and pulls out her husband’s watch. The man straps it back on his wrist.

The doctor’s eyes open wide, as if seeing something he had missed on the MRI. “Oh,” he says. “You work at Amoco.”...

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.today.com/health/health/...ults-rcna30902


107 cases of brain tumors led to investigation at NJ high school: Mayor announces results
A Colonia High School alum said he found 107 people with brain tumors who went to or worked at the school. The township announced results of an investigation.
01:38 /02:14
May 27, 2022, 5:22 PM EDT
By Meghan Holohan

When a former student at Colonia High School in Woodbridge, New Jersey, realized that he, his wife and his sister all had brain tumors, he wondered if something about their high school could have caused them. After doing some research, Al Lupiano told TODAY that he discovered 107 former students and teachers with brain tumors. (TODAY did not independently verify the cases.)

When Woodbridge Township Mayor John McCormac learned about Lupiano’s efforts, he reached to him and the township subsequently hired an environmental engineering firm to investigate possible contaminants at the school that could contribute to development of brain tumors. McCormac shared the findings of the environmental assessment in a press conference Thursday.

“We are very happy to announce that our extensive testing for both radon and radiation in the interior and exterior of the school building produced no evidence of any cancer causing hazards that warrant further investigation,” McCormac said. “This is terrific news for the current students of Colonial High School and their parents who are worried about their safety along with current staff members. And it is also great news for all former students who attended and staff that worked at Colonia High School since it opened back in 1968.”

McCormac was joined by Joseph Massimino, superintendent of Woodbridge schools, Shawn LaTourette, New Jersey’s commissioner of environmental protection, Judith Persichilli, commissioner of New Jersey’s department of health, and Kate McGreevy, an epidemiologist from the New Jersey Department of Health. The township worked closely with state and federal agencies in the investigation, according to McCormac....

[Emily]

https://newjersey.news12.com/free-brain-tumor-screenings-canceled-in-woodbridge-town-says-permit-is-needed

Free brain tumor screenings canceled in Woodbridge; town says permit is needed

Jun 21, 2022, 9:28pm Updated 5h ago
By: News 12 Staff

There is a new twist regarding the controversy over a suspected cancer cluster linked to Colonia High School. The Brain Tumor Foundation is scrambling to find a new place to give free screenings after Woodbridge officials put a stop to the event.

The foundation says the town is threatening the business that was going to host the event, which was set to begin on Wednesday. About 120 people had signed up for the free screenings as many worried that they could develop cancer.

“I was really excited to hopefully, you know, get a clear scan and be able to move on and not be afraid,” says Michelle McGeehan, who graduated from the high school in 1992.

McGeehan says she is afraid, even after the Woodbridge mayor and state officials said that a study showed no link between Colonia High School and more than 100 cases of brain tumors.

But many residents say they are still concerned and are pushing for more testing...