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The health department also looked at brain cancer rates for Colonia High School and compared them to rates of brain cancer throughout New Jersey and the United States. Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, glioblastoma has an incidence of3.21 per 100,000. "Two hours later, we received information that my wife also had a primary brain tumor," Lupiano said. And it's not just the school that could be at risk. Colonia graduate Al Lupiano, an environmental scientist, was the first to sound the alarm about the potential cluster. "However, I still think we need to expedite the next phase of testing including water, soil, and air, to determine if more than one contaminant is present," he said. "It's too important. Brain cancer is rare, being detected in about one in 15,000 . Schools Brain Tumor Link To Colonia High School 'Credible,' Town's Mayor Says A scientist's theory that a contaminant at the Woodbridge school is linked to 65 rare brain tumors is being taken . The plant received uranium, thorium and beryllium ores between the 1940s and 1967, which is the same year Colonia High School was built. He has continued to update followers on social media and on Thursday, said the list stood at 115 people who had either malignant or benign tumors. Immediate action from our State and Federal agencies is warranted," Lupiano said. Further explanation of what occurred at that high school over these decades of people being in the building, Lupiano told Fox News Digital. First published on May 4, 2022 / 10:52 PM. Theres lots and lots of people calling me, saying, Look, I didnt go to the high school, but I live a mile away, and we call our block cancer alley,' said Lupiano. An investigation into a possible brain cancer cluster found no evidence a New Jersey school was the cause of tumors diagnosed in former students, officials declared Thursday. "This is only the tip of the iceberg. Former Colonia High School student Al Lupiano first decided to investigate when both his wife and his sister were diagnosed with brain tumors, two decades after he himself had suffered from. Advocates for an official investigation into fears of a "cancer cluster" at the Middlesex County high school say there are parallels to the notorious water system contamination in the Ocean County town that was blamed for more than 130 cases of childhood cancer in the 1990s. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. But to date we dont have any environmental factors that are known to cause brain tumors.. Lupiano's familiarity comes from his own experience. Last year, his wife who also attended Colonia was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor. On Tuesday after a public push by Lupiano local officials approved an emergency probe of the school. Over 122 people connected to Colonia High School were found to have brain tumors. "If I was a parent with a child in the school, I'd be literally sick to my stomach thinking, is my child at risk right this second?" Al Lupiano graduated from the Middlesex County school in 1989. WOODBRIDGE A New Jersey man is on amission to find a link between rare braintumors inmore than 60 graduates and former staff at Colonia High School, including his wife and late sister. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. And I know that wears on my brother-in-law, it wears on my parents. Calls are growing for state and federal authorities to look into why more than 100 people have been diagnosed with brain tumors since attending the school as students, faculty or staff in past decades. ", In an earlier update, Lupiano said many of those who reached out to him about their brain tumor or cancer cases "are former CHS teachers and staff members who didnt live in Colonia, they just worked in the school. The disturbing development came to the fore after one of the former students Al Lupiano - a cancer survivor - decided to untangle the mystery. He has reached out to the state Department of Health, Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for help which is reportedly still in the early stages, according to the CBS News report. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, I make $80k selling nudes to pay for cancer treatment men love bald look, Jimmy Carters niece says former president still has some time in him, Experts say youve been storing potatoes wrong this whole time and shut down cancer rumors, Joe Exotics doctors suspect he has bladder cancer but hes refusing treatment: report. Now, he's gone public with the suggestion that Colonia could be one such site. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, We've received your submission. Angela M. DeCillis, a Colonia High School graduate, Class of '95. Lupiano was diagnosed with a brain tumor back in the late 1990s, at the age of 27. Since starting his research, Lupiano said that number has increased to about 90 people, including about 10 who were school staff members, some who worked in the cafeteria and others from the athletic department. (Google Maps). For now, radiation levels in and around the school are being monitored in a two-week test that began on April 9 by a private contractor hired by the municipality. Victim No. His wife and sister both got it. Lupiano was diagnosed in 1999 with a benign tumor known as Acoustic Neuroma. Platz expects that public health officials will look for specific overlaps in timing and tumor type. Lupiano eventually arrived at a single linking factor between himself, his wife and his sister: they each attended Colonia High School in Woodbridge in the 1990s. COLONIA, N.J. -- There is a growing push to go back to remote learning at one New Jersey high school, but not because of COVID fears. The onset of brain tumors in more than one hundred people who attended or worked at Colonia High School in New Jersey has continued to baffle experts. Glioblastoma is an aggressive type of cancer that can occur in the brain or spinal cord, according to the Mayo Clinic. Both Lupiano, 50, and his wife Michele, 49, who is also a Colonia graduate, have acoustic neuroma, a benign tumor. Twentyyears earlier, he was also diagnosed with an aggressive 36-millimeter acoustic neuroma. We're just doing it," said Mayor John E. McCormac. Colonia High School is now the subject of radiation detecting. Jason Wisinski, who lost his wife and sister-in-law, both Colonia High alumnae, to . Caitlin O'Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift. He just needs a place. Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world. 100 stories of shock and disbelief with the diagnosis. It is possible that soil from the plant had been trucked to Colonia High School during its construction in 1967, NJ Spotlight reported. In August 2021, DeCillis received her diagnosis of Grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive, rare, and deadly form of brain cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, "cases of cancer can appear to cluster even when there is no connection among them." The viral TikTok video discussing the purported cancer cluster was posted Wednesday by popular personality Dr. Joe Whittington. Colonia High School Officials conduct a radiological survey on the school's baseball field. Just three of these clusters were linked to a possible exposure, and only one had a clear cause. That's when Lupiano started looking into the connection. All these photos are from AP and Getty publications, meaning they were used in a magazine or newspaper. To his knowledge, there was nothing remotely dangerous at the site. Dangerous drunk driving in South Brunswick, NJ cops nearly hit, Perth Amboy, NJ super rebukes teachers union for urging student walkout, Student walkout, protest planned after Perth Amboy NJ fifth-grader stabbed, Driver flees on foot after crash kills East Windsor, NJ mom, NJ man giving massages groped women at Plainsboro gym, cops say, Perth Amboy after school stabbing leaves 11-year-old hurt, child in custody, As NJ councilwoman is laid to rest, many questions about her execution-style slaying, New Brunswick, NJ burglar repeatedly confronted by residents, Equal Employment Opportunity Policy and EEO Report. We do not believe that there is cause for any further testing, he said. WOODBRIDGE TWP., New Jersey -- Al Lupiano graduated from Colonia High School in Woodbridge Township, . And it is also great news for all former students.". Lupiano said. The community suspects a cancer cluster, and would like it investigated, and I think thats a very reasonable request. A subsequent TikTok video discussing the medical mystery has also racked up more than 2.2 million viral views in just 24 hours. "This approach of calculating the expected number was done to provide context to . They will remain in place for 14 days before being sent to a lab for analysis. Starting this weekend, various radiological assessments will be conducted across the schools 28-acre campus, including the testing of indoor air samples for radon. "While we have not yet determined if any contaminant is present, the only link up to this point is that everyone spent a significant amount of time at the school," Lupiano wrote in his Facebook post. A man investigating his former high school in New Jersey says he has counted 115 people who attended or worked there have had a rare brain tumor. DeCillis passed away at the age of 44 from a rare form of brain cancer. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. The canisters do not poseany danger and do not emit any substance, and are routinely used in homes, businesses and schools to collect radon measurements, township officials said. While the exact number of former faculty and staff diagnosed with glioblastoma is not precisely known, the cancer is exceedingly rare. But some parents didnt seem convinced, according to NJ.com. His wife was similarly diagnosed with an abnormally large AN tumor, and his sister was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), which has an incident rate of 30 out of every 1 million people, Lupiano explained in a Facebook post that he has been updating since March 7. If we dont find anything, we have to start looking at other potential candidates, whether its chemicals or something in the soil or air. Market data provided by Factset. Lupianowould liketheir investigators to come in over spring break so that students are not disturbed. The brain tumor cases, appearing over a thirty-year period, are a significant medical mystery that has caused alarm for experts. 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. In less than six weeks, Lupiano says, he has gathered the names of 94 people connected with the school who have developed brain tumors. 4/24 UPDATE: The radiological team charged with looking for both radiation and radon has concluded. Al Lupiano was diagnosed with a "very rare" and abnormally large brain tumor in 1999 when he was 27 called Acoustic Neuroma. Lupiano began researching to see if other Woodbridge friends and family members had been diagnosed with brain tumors. Middlesex Sampling Plant to Colonia High School in New Jersey. Lupiano and McCormac have spoken to officials with the state Department of Health and thefederalAgency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Woodbridge Mayor John McCormick told CBS New York the school, which was built in 1967, was built on "virgin land" in the woods. The Middlesex Sampling Plant, which has since closed, is located on 9.6 acres, about a 30-minute driving from Colonia. The program will take real-time measurements of radiation inside and outside the building, the town said. "The only thing that could have happened, potentially, was fill that was brought in during construction. This is only one of many, many tests that can be performed. McCormack said the town wants local and federal involvement in the investigation. She holds a bachelor's degree in biotechnology from theUniversity of Kentucky and master's degrees in food technology from Aarhus University and journalism from New York University. Very few achieve the label, but one of them is Toms River, where the rate of childhood cancers surged in the 1990s after the towns drinking water was contaminated with toxic chemicals from two waste dumps. The Township of Woodbridge, in cooperation with the Woodbridge Township School District, has taken the proactive initiative to contract with T&M and Cabrera Services, Inc., a nationally recognized radiological and environmental remediation company, to engage their team of environmentalists to begin collecting data at Colonia High School, the town said in a statement. ", Rick Rickman is the news assistant at New Jersey 101.5. His wife. Only 72 of the suspected cancer clusters were confirmed to have an increased incidence of cancer within the cluster. The environmental engineering firm T+M Associates was. All rights reserved. Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story. For a better-informed future. In 1999 when Lupiano was 27, he too was diagnosed with a large acoustic neuroma on the left side of his brain. (Al Lupiano), "[A]s of midnight Sunday 4/10, I recorded the 100th case of someone having a primary brain tumor," Luapiano said in an update on his Faceboook post. Rob Laumbach, a Rutgers University professor of public health. Al Lupiano first sent public nearly two months ago about concerns of a cancer cluster related to Colonia High School. DeCillis's four teenage daughters attend Colonia schools in Woodbridge. COLONIA, N.J. - Radiation tests are being done at Colonia High School in New Jersey after more than 100 people were diagnosed with rare brain tumors. Gov. They have a lot more resources at their disposal. In a joint statement to CBS News, the New Jersey Department of Health and the state's Department of Environmental Protection said the agencies "are aware of the concerns raised by local residents, particularly as they relate to Colonia High School, and are partnering with Mayor McCormac and Woodbridge Township to better understand the issue and determine whether any relevant environmental exposure concerns are present at the site.". (Exposure to certain types of radiation can increase the risk of cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.) A 2012 study in the journal Critical Reviews in Toxicology demonstrates how tricky it can be to confirm a cancer cluster. Jon can be contacted by email at jonhurdle@gmail.com. "We can get in there today and take air, water and soil samples and have results back the same day," Lupiano said. Pennsylvania police seized gloves, flashlight from home of Idaho murders suspect, CDC warns drug-resistant stomach bug a "serious public health threat". 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