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panfist t1_ixeakmx wrote

>In the case of Colonia High School, many of these valid limitations apply. The New Jersey cancer registry offers little help, since not everyone who went to or worked at Colonia still lives in Woodbridge, and not everyone in Woodbridge went to Colonia. When the state health department calculated the number of brain and other nervous system tumors that would be expected among the cohort of students and staff from 1968 to 2021, it concluded it could be up to 120 individuals — just slightly under Mr. Lupiano’s count of about 125 (though he believes his tally is an undercount). At least one epidemiologist I spoke to for this article told me that, just glancing at the numbers, he wasn’t surprised that public officials have determined Colonia was not a true cluster.

From a nytimes article

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Pie4Weebl t1_ixfk35r wrote

That sounds too reasonable, let's just keep dumping money at testing until we find *something *, and if we don't find anything the only explanation is we need to do more testing.

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Irlydidnthaveachoice t1_ixfsybn wrote

From the same article: > The Woodbridge town council spent $221,000 to deploy 83 radon testing devices and conduct radiological testing at the school building and encircling 28-acre campus. Officials also reviewed local data on naturally occurring radioactive deposits and followed up on reports of a radioactive rock discovered in a science classroom in 1997.

This is not to say the original testing was not warranted, it certainly was but what is the point of testing if we do not accept the results?

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Pie4Weebl t1_ixftkge wrote

I was being sarcastic. They tested for the cause of the cancer, found nothing and that should be that. I don't understand how spending money for testing on things that couldn't cause that cancer makes any sense at all.

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Irlydidnthaveachoice t1_ixfx3vz wrote

I figured, just want to tag on how much the original round of testing cost the folks of Woodbridge.

Completely agree.

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Yimpa_aum t1_ixggory wrote

https://www.twp.woodbridge.nj.us/DocumentCenter/View/20094/MAYOR-STATEMENT_CHS-PC_5-26-2022

“Although we appropriated the funds, we fully expect to be reimbursed for any expenditures through State and Federal entities and we have made that clear to all parties involved and we have received assurances that they would work with us to accomplish this goal.”

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Irlydidnthaveachoice t1_ixioqlr wrote

Good to know, thank you.

Both NJDEP and EPA are satisfied with the results, as in they do not believe additional sampling is necessary. I would imagine the Township is now on the hook for the this second round sampling.

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Yimpa_aum t1_ixiuyow wrote

No problem!

My stance is this investigation is an opportunity for science to evolve and government agencies to learn from novel cases, such as what’s supposedly going on in this school.

If this investigation brings us new insights about how cancer develops in humans as well as how toxic chemicals play a role in our ongoing environmental issues, then I’m all for it. Looking at long term solutions instead of short term.

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