Cancer cluster

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A cancer cluster is a cluster , ie an above-average incidence of cancer in a group of people, geographical region or in a period of time. Whether a cluster was created accidentally, through statistical dispersion or whether it was caused by a still unknown cause is the research task of statisticians and is often the subject of public discussion.

Contrary to what has been portrayed in popular films such as Erin Brockovich and A Civil Action , situations where chemical or radioactive pollution has caused cancer clusters in the general population are in reality rare. The vast majority of scientifically proven cause-and-effect relationships in cancer clusters relate instead to occupational stresses on workers , harmful behaviors (such as tobacco smoking ) or carcinogenic drugs . Almost only after massive catastrophes, environmental damage could be associated with increased cancer incidence in the surrounding population, for example after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster , the Bhopal disaster or the Seveso accident . A counterexample in which the childhood leukemia cluster observed by those affected ultimately led to the exposure of the underlying industrial emissions was the 1972 Woburn (Massachusetts) leukemia cluster .

The systematic search for cancer clusters only became possible with the introduction of national epidemiological cancer registries . In the USA it falls under the remit of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ; In Germany, the Robert Koch Institute and the Society of Epidemiological Cancer Registries in Germany evaluate the (still incomplete) registry data at national level. Random observations of cancer clusters should be reported to these bodies in order to have them checked for statistical significance and, if necessary, to initiate a search for the cause. Scientific studies on cancer clusters are difficult, expensive and often remain without clear results.

Sources of exposure that are visible to the public ( nuclear power plants , chemical factories and cell phone transmission systems ) are often seen as triggers. However, it is difficult to prove. The cluster can be simulated (see target error , clustering illusion ), or it is caused by a noxious agent other than the obvious one . Cancer is a multifactorial cause of illness and death with a known dependence on genetic and lifestyle factors; Also infections may have a regional and time striking distribution patterns.

Historical cancer clusters

Historical cancer clusters have often been discovered by the treating physicians. For example, testicular cancer in chimney sweeps in the 18th century by Percivall Pott ; Osteosarcomas among the dial painters in watch factories ( “Radium Girls” ) in the 1920s by the New York dentist Theodor Blum ; Skin cancer among farmers 1712 by Bernardino Ramazzini ; Bladder cancer in workers exposed to certain aromatic amines in the dye industry by the German occupational physician Mengellsdorf in 1947, leukemia and malignant lymphomas in chemical workers who have been in contact with benzene in 1963 by the Russian occupational physician E. Tareeff.

Cancer clusters in the vicinity of nuclear facilities

Accumulations of leukemia diseases in the vicinity of nuclear facilities have been described several times. Notorious is the British reprocessing plant Windscale , where the world's first serious nuclear accident occurred in 1957 ( Windscale fire ), in which radioactive contamination reached as far as Ireland. Hundreds of other more or less serious incidents have since become known in Sellafield. In 1984 it was found that the number of leukemia cases in the vicinity of the atomic complex is about ten times the national average. In 1997 British researchers found plutonium in the teeth of children and adolescents.

The so-called Elbmarsch leukemia cluster has been the subject of intense debate in Germany since 1991. In the municipality of Elbmarsch ( Lower Saxony ) and the neighboring Geesthachts ( Schleswig-Holstein ), near the Krümmel nuclear power plant , 19 children had developed leukemia in 1986 and four of them died. At the initiative of a local pediatrician, a citizens' initiative was formed that forced an investigation. As a result, the German Childhood Cancer Register (Mainz) carried out a nationwide long-term survey of childhood cancer (KiKK study). This study and, with reference to it, the radiation protection commission came to the conclusion in 2008 that an increased radioactive pollution of the area was not detectable and the cluster was real, but not explainable.

List of known cancer clusters

North America
Period illness place number root cause swell
1917-1927 Osteosarcoma New Jersey , Connecticut , Illinois 86 radium
1938-1971 Adenocarcinoma United States 750 Diethylstilbestrol
1963-1999 Lung cancer , mesothelioma Libby (Montana) 56 Tremolite
1967-1973 Liver - angiosarcoma ( hemangiosarcoma ) Louisville (Kentucky) 4th Vinyl chloride monomer
1968-1995 Leukemia , lymphoma Camp Lejeune , North Carolina 13 note Trichlorethylene
1,2-dichloroethene
tetrachloroethene
methylene
chloride vinyl chloride
1973-1982 Brain tumor , central nervous system cancer Cooke County, Texas 16-29 Unknown
1979-1996 Brain tumor , central nervous system cancer Toms River, New Jersey 90+ Styrene-acrylonitrile trimer
1981-1986 leukemia Woburn, Massachusetts 21st Chloroform
tetrachloroethene
trichloroethene
1,2-dichloroethene
arsenic
1982-1984 Testicular cancer Fulton County, New York 3 Dimethylformamide (DMF)
2-ethoxyethanol
2-ethoxyethyl acetate
2-butoxyethanol
1987-1999 Brain tumor , leukemia , lymphoma Wilmington, Massachusetts 20th Unknown
dimethylnitrosamine (NDMA)
1997-2002 Leukemia , rhabdomyosarcoma Fallon (Nevada) 17th Unknown
tungsten
arsenic
chlorpyrifos
DDE
benzene in jet fuel
1996-2006 Leukemia , brain tumor , lymphoma Clyde (Ohio) 35, mostly children Unknown
1953-2010 numerous types of cancer Shannon (Quebec) 400 Trichlorethylene
Europe
Period illness place number root cause swell
1968-1995 leukemia Seascale , Sellafield , England 9 Uncertain
studies show a correlation with radiation exposure of the father before conception
1978-1993 leukemia La Hague , Normandy , France 27 Unknown
(speculated: tritium )
1980s Leukemia, brain tumor East Riding of Yorkshire , UK 13 Unproven connection to Capper Pass - Smelting Works in Melton ; Polonium 210 , lead , arsenic and other metal emissions
1990-2005 leukemia Krümmel , Elbmarschen , Germany 16 Unknown
(speculated: actinides , especially plutonium -241 from unknown sources, which was allegedly found in the area, or tritium from a neighboring nuclear power plant )
India
Period illness place number root cause swell
mid 1980s Skin changes , arsenicosis West Bengal , India Unknown arsenic

literature

Individual evidence

Remarks:

Note 52 of 106 suspected health disorders were confirmed, including 13 cases of cancer of the hematopoietic system and 39 cases of birth defects.

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  30. ^ A Review of radioactivity in and around the Capper Pass smelter, Melton Works, North Humberside, a report prepared for the East Yorkshire Health Authority, February 1990 MS Baxter, BW East, et al. Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Center, 1990
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Other sources

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