Mystery as over 100 people at a New Jersey high school get rare brain cancer
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In a startling case of mysterious coincidence, an investigation has been launched after more than 100 people who attended a high school in New Jersey appeared to contract rare cancer.
The cancer was diagnosed years after these students graduated or worked at Colonia High School in Woodbridge.
The disturbing development was uncovered by a former student of the Colonia High School in Woodbridge, New Jersey after Al Lupiano, now 50, suffered a supposedly 'rare' brain tumour some 20 years ago.
He initially thought nothing of it until his wife was diagnosed with the exact same form of glioblastoma followed by his sister who also came down with the aggressive tumour, eventually taking her life last month.
"I will not rest until I have answers," the 50-year-old told NJ.com.
According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, glioblastoma is normally extremely rare with an incidence of 3.21 per 100,000 people. But Lupiano has so far come across 102 people who passed through the school between 1975 and 2000 and have all suffered from the same type of brain cancer.
Woodbridge officials are now trying to determine an underlying cause for the disease.
"There could be a real problem here, and our residents deserve to know if there are any dangers," Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac said in a statement carried by the New York Post.
"We're all concerned, and we all want to get to the bottom of this. This is not normal," the mayor further said in the statement.
The issue became the national headline in the United States after CBS News aired a story on it. It is now one of the hottest topics to be discussed on TikTok.
The authorities will be conducting radiological assessments across the school's 28-acre campus, including the testing of indoor air samples for radon.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), radon is a naturally-occurring radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer.
The EPA says that inhaling radon for a long time increases your risk of lung cancer. Gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States.
According to agency estimates, about 21,000 people die each year from radon-related lung cancer.