Jimu news reporter Li Lili
Nearly 100 people in a high school in the United States have suffered from extremely rare malignant brain tumors, most of whom graduated from school or worked at the school. Patients have asked schools to investigate the cause. Starting this weekend, the school will conduct a radiological assessment, including testing radon from indoor air samples, the New York Post reported on April 14.
According to reports, the school where the incident occurred was Colonia High School in Woodbridge, New Jersey, and 94 people associated with the school have been found to have brain tumors.
Colonia High School
One of these 94 is Al Lupiano, who graduated from Colonia High School. Back in the late 1990s, Lupiano was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 27, and for years he struggled with it until he slowly recovered. Last year, his wife was also diagnosed with a brain tumor. On the same day, Lupiano's sister was also found with the same illness. All three attended Colonia High School.
Lupiano and his wife Michelle
So many coincidences have made Lupiano wonder if the disease is related to the school. In February this year, his sister died at the age of 44. He created a Facebook group to ask locals if they had the same similar symptoms.
Lupiano's sister
To his astonishment, in less than six weeks, he had gathered information on 94 people with brain tumors, all of whom were associated with Colonia High School: some graduated from the school, some were former workers here.
According to local media reports, the vast majority of people with brain tumors graduated from the school between 1975 and 2000. These diagnoses include several types of primary brain tumors, including serious diseases such as glioblastoma, and non-cancerous but debilitating masses such as acoustic neuromas, angioblastomas, and meningiomas. The incidence of brain tumors in this school is obviously abnormal. Although the exact number of people diagnosed with glioblastoma is not known, this cancer is extremely rare. According to the American Association of Neurosurgeons, the incidence of glioblastoma is only 3.21 per 100,000.
Dr. Sumer Laval, a top neuro-oncologist in New Jersey, expressed shock: "Normally, people don't get radiation in high school... Unless something happens in the area that we don't know about. He called on the school to launch an immediate investigation.
"I won't stop until I get the answer." Lupiano, who is already 50 years old, has become an important driver of the investigation. It was at his active urging that local officials approved an urgent investigation into the school.
Colonia High School was reportedly built in 1967 and covers 28 acres.
The year the school was built, less than 12 miles from the school, the Middlesex sampling plant closed. The plant was used during the Manhattan Project to crush, dry, store, pack and transport uranium ore to facilitate the development of atomic bombs. (Note: In 1942, the United States began the Manhattan Project, which brought together scientists from around the world to develop the world's first atomic bomb.) ）
Some of the contaminated soil was said to have been removed when the factory closed in 1967, but Lupiano suspects that some of the soil is linked to the school's playground.
Playground of Colonia High School
According to CBS, Lupiano has sought help from the state Department of Health, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registries. Today, Colonia High School enrolls about 1,300 students, and students are beginning to worry about their illness. Woodbridge Mayor John McCormack issued a statement saying: "There may be really a problem here, we all want to find out the truth, which is absolutely abnormal." ”
Starting this weekend, various radiation assessments will be conducted on the Colonia High School campus, including radon testing for indoor air samples.