Hazleton Tamaqua Cancer
In 2008, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry announced that residents in a 20-mile stretch of Pennsylvania between the towns of Hazleton and Tamaqua have a higher than normal incidence rate of a rare form of blood cancer called polycythemia vera (PV).1
Fast Facts
- Symptoms of PV: Blood clots, heart attacks, strokes2
- Elevated risk for polycythemia vera (PV) found in area2
- 131 people in area between 2001 and 2005 reported having or tested positive for PV2
- Most patients with PV have mutation in gene JAK22
- Half of patients tested had mutation in JAK22
- Some blame former Superfund site run by McAdoo Associates in Schuylkill County for illness3
- Studies suggest PV may be contracted by exposure to chemicals2
- First PV cluster ever discovered by government3
Industrial Cause?
Several of those with PV in the area claim that the McAdoo Associates toxic waste site in Schuylkill County was to blame for their illness.3 Several studies suggest that PV could be caused by exposure to certain chemicals such as benzene.2
Related Pages on Mahalo
Primary Polycythemia | Cancer | Superfund | Pennsylvania | Arlen Specter
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