COLONIA, N.J. (WCBS 880) — A New Jersey town is planning to conduct environmental testing at a high school after dozens of alumni and others connected to the institution developed rare brain tumors.
Woodbridge Township is looking to expedite soil and air testing at Colonia High School in Colonia after 1989 graduate and environmental scientist Al Lupiano uncovered a possible cancer cluster.
"I've looked at roughly from the 1975 graduating class to the 1995 graduating class and the bulk of the brain tumor incidents happened in that time period," Lupiano, who himself was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor in 1999, told WCBS 880's Sean Adams.
Last August, his sister was diagnosed with Stage 4 glioblastoma and just hours later, Lupiano's wife was told that she also had a large rare brain tumor, for which she is still undergoing treatment.
"The fact that all three of us have something and all kind of knew each other, you're talking potentially 1 in a billion chance of us all coming together, that was kind of the first indication that something here is different," Lupiano said.
After his sister, Angela, passed away on Feb. 17 at the age of 44, Lupiano took to Facebook where he issued a call to Colonia High School alumni asking if there were others who had also been diagnosed with brain tumors.
He uncovered more than 65 additional brain tumor cases, all apparently tracing back to the school. They include alumni, as well as former teachers and staffers who didn't live in Colonia, but just worked at the school.
"I don't want any family to through what my family recently went through," Lupiano said.
Upon learning of Lupiano's findings, Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac immediately reached out to state and federal agencies to participate in the scientific analysis.
"First of all, he knows what he's doing. He's in the environmental science field, so this is not somebody who's randomly just coming up with a theory," McCormac said of Lupiano. "Based on sheer numbers it was alarming. We have to look into this, and we did, and we got the Department of Health, Department of Environmental Protection. We have a meeting set up now with the EPA, so we've got people involved trying to help us through this."
What caused the tumors is not known.
Lupiano wonders whether there is a connection to a nearby former secret military lab.
"Roughly 10 miles away form the school is a secret military laboratory that was used during World War II for the development of the nuclear bombs. It was part of the Manhattan Project," Lupiano said. "It's known as the Middlesex Sampling Plant, sometimes they call it the Middlesex Landfill, and on that location they were importing uranium ore from the Congo."
He also notes there was a grapefruit-sized, low-level radioactive rock that was discovered and then removed from a science class in the school in 1997.
"Some reports said it was uranium ore, supposed to be low level radiation, but it just begs the questions was that the trigger? Is that the tip of the iceberg? Is there more present on site? And then, where did it come from?" Lupiano said.
The potential cancer cluster requires further investigation and there is currently no indication of a connection to the rock or military lab.
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