Probe ordered after US school alumnus finds 102 cases of rare cancer during 25 years

A former student of a high school in New Jersey (US) is on a mission to unravel a mystery that has been bothering him for long: a rare cancer that affected more than 100 people who attended the school between the year 1975 and 2000.

Fifty-year-old Al Lupiano is a cancer survivor and a former student of Colonia High School in Woodbridge. He started digging for answers when his sister passed away from glioblastoma, a ‘rare’ brain tumor. Al Lupiano was surprised to know that his wife too was diagnosed with the same tumour. She too died last month. Lupiano’s younger sister had died of the same disease in February. Both his wife and sister had attended the same school.

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Al Lupiano had promised his sister on her deathbed that he would get to the bottom of the mystery. During the months, Lupiano identified 102 people who passed through the school between 1975 and 2000 and have all suffered from the same type of brain cancer. “I will not rest until I have answers,” Al Lupiano told NJ.com. His persistence made the local officials to order an emergency investigation into the matter.

Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac said the problem could be real and that the residents deserve to know if there are any dangers. “We’re all concerned, and we all want to get to the bottom of this. This is definitely not normal,” he said.

The news about the recurring cancer cases went viral on TikTok with several conspiracy theories floating online. Some claim mold, toxic waste, asbestos and nearby cellphone towers could all be causing the cancer.

Glioblastoma is an extremely rare type of cancer with an incidence of 3.21 per 100,000 people. The health authorities will be conducting radiological assessments across the school’s 28-acre campus, including the testing of indoor air samples for radon — a naturally-occurring radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. Outdoors, radon is not a health challenge. Most radon exposure occurs inside homes, schools and workplaces.

According to US health department estimates, about 21,000 people die each year from radon-related lung cancer.