Over the previous 30 years, more than 100 students from the same high school in New Jersey have been diagnosed with the same brain tumor.
Health professionals are currently investigating the underlying causes. They're also looking for signs of dangerous radioactivity on the school grounds.
A picture of a human brain taken by a positron emission tomography scanner, also called PET scan, is seen on a screen on January 9, 2019, at the Regional and University Hospital Center of Brest (CRHU - Centre Hospitalier Régional et Universitaire de Brest), western France. - The CHRU of Brest has just acquired a new molecular imaging device, the most advanced in France today according to the hospital center, capable of better detecting deep lesions and especially cancerous pathologies, the hospital announced on January 9, 2019.
Hundreds of NJ High School Students Diagnosed With Brain Tumors
In the last three decades, 108 of the 15,000 graduates of Colonia High School have been diagnosed with brain tumors, prompting the city of Woodbridge to lead the inquiry.
Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac found the matter "quite disturbing," NBC New York reported.
Cancer survivor Al Lupiano, an environmental scientist and alumnus of the NJ high school, feels a link between his alma mater and the brain tumor instances that ended in the early 2000s.
On the other hand, health officials are sure that there are still probable health risks.
Lupiano and his wife Michelle, a fellow graduate, were diagnosed with benign brain tumors 20 years apart.
The same NBC New York report mentioned that Lupiano's sister, who was also a Colonia High School alumni, died recently of brain cancer.
At the moment, every square inch of the school is being inspected for suspected contamination.
Environmental and health authorities have expressed grave worries while final results are still being compiled.
According to Fox News, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New Jersey Departments of Health (DOH) are both involved in the investigation into the "apparent cancer cluster."
Both agencies cooperate with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
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Brain Tumor Explained
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services defines brain tumors as the "growth of aberrant cells" in the brain tissues.
Brain tumors can be either malignant (cancerous) or benign (non-cancerous).
Around 700,000 persons in the United States have a primary brain tumor, the National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS) pointed out.
According to the group, 88,970 people were diagnosed this year.
Glioblastoma is one of the numerous fatal malignant brain tumors that can originate in the spinal cord or brain nerve cells, and it is one of the most common types of brain tumors.
Headaches and seizures are two of the most typical signs of a brain tumor.
Early diagnosis of cancerous and non-cancerous brain tumors, which often result in death if not treated, is one of the most effective techniques available today.
Colonia High School Background
Daily Mail said the New Jersey high school, the target of the present cancer cluster investigation, was founded in 1967. It is one of Woodbridge Township's three high schools.
Colonia High School, like any other school in the United States, has a student body of over 1,000 pupils and has built a reputation for academic distinction throughout the years.
The school recently celebrated 50 years of educational excellence. It was named a "Top Rated High School" by US News and World Report in 2015, 2016, and 2017.
Aside from the school's historical past, no industrial accidents or associated incidents have been reported at the educational establishment.
As a result, local officials, including investigators, are perplexed whether the school contains an unknown substance linked to brain tumors.
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