A school in the US has been linked to 65 cases of rare brain tumours.
Al Lupiano, a former resident of Woodbridge Township in New Jersey, unearthed the shocking link after several people in his own family were diagnosed with the same rare tumour.
The environmental scientist was diagnosed himself 20 years ago, and still suffers lingering issues as a result, but others were worse affected.
Advert
"Fast forward to August of last year, my sister received the news she had a primary brain tumour, herself," Al told CBS2.
"Unfortunately, it turned out to be stage 4 glioblastoma. Two hours later, we received information that my wife also had a primary brain tumour."
Al started looking into it, and ended up identifying 65 cases of people with the rare brain tumour – and the common theme was that they had all either been to or worked at Colonia High School.
Advert
"I started doing some research and the three became five, the five became seven, the seven became 15," he said.
Tragically, Al's sister passed away less than a month ago, and he subsequently posted on Facebook asking the school's alumni to come forward and ask others if they've been diagnosed with a brain tumour.
The school was built in 1967, and Al is now working with officials to investigate the link.
He said: "What I find alarming is there's truly only one environmental link to primary brain tumours and that's ionizing radiation.
Advert
"It's not contaminated water. It's not air. It's not something in soil. It's not something done to us due to bad habits."
Woodbridge Mayor John McCormick has now reached out to the state Department of Health, Department of Environmental Protection and the Federal Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry to report the apparent link.
He told CBS2: "It was virgin land. It was woods. The high school was the first thing to be there, so there was probably nothing in the ground at that time.
Advert
"The only thing that could have happened, potentially, was fill that was brought in during construction. We have no records 55 years ago."
He added: "We are looking at possible things that we can do between the town and school, and they said they will look at anything we come up with."
Dr Joseph Massimino, the superintendent of schools, said he will be informing the community about the unofficial research and keeping them posted on any progress with the investigation.
He said: "I'm a lifelong resident here. I raised my family here. So the health and safety of our students is of paramount importance to me."
Advert
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Jake Massey