Four EPA Superfund Sites and the Potomac-Raritan-Magothy Aquifer... how can you not get Pancreatic Cancer?

Upon reading comments from those with Pancreatic Cancer or with family members dying from Pancreatic Cancer on the Cancer Compass website, I was intrigued by the number of cases occurring in Southern New Jersey.  I found it odd.  I, alone, know several people who died from the disease in my area, in addition to my father now fighting the disease.  Reading that Petroleum products could be linked to Pancreatic Cancer from the guide book provided by my father's surgeon, I placed the words "Petroleum and New Jersey" in Google Maps.  I discovered a profound cluster of red dots representing Petroleum locations all along the Delaware River the length of New Jersey.  Unfortunately, to my surprise, Petroleum turned out to be only the tip of the toxic iceberg.

Have you ever heard of an EPA Superfund Site?  I was downright dumbfounded to find out that the public water I had been consuming for the 23 years that I lived in my hometown of Pennsauken New Jersey was excessively contaminated by at least four EPA Superfund Sites.  Who knew? 

Pennsauken's water supply comes from the Potomac-Raritan-Magothy aquifer.  In addition to the Potomac-Raritan-Magothy aquifer being contaminated with toxic substances such as PCB-1242, PCB-1248, PCB-1254, PCB-1260, TCE, PCE and DCA, the most frightening aspect of all is that the aquifer is also contaminated with some very dangerous metals.  Time to bring out the Periodic Table from Chemistry 101... a lesson to be learned... can elements classified as "metallic" cause Pancreatic Cancer?  

A century of industrial waste has made drinking water in Camden and Pennsauken  New Jersey like ingesting a mixed cocktail of periodic elements.  Mercury, Hexavalent Chromium, Cadmium, Arsenic, Lead, Radium, Thorium and Uranium are the metals found to be contaminants either in the soil or in the water at the multiple EPA Superfund Sites effecting Camden County's water supply.  Public water supply.  Municipal water supply.  Taxed water supply.

Welsbach & General Gas Mantle, Martin Aaron, Puchack Well Field and Swope Oil are the culprits, in my opinion, of many forms of cancers and diseases present in my ancestors as well as my immediate family and my offspring.  An interesting fact about Pancreatic Cancer that isn't expressed enough is that 90% of Pancreatic Cancer cases are considered sporadic, which means that the damage to the genes occurs after a person is born.  Inherited Pancreatic Cancers are less common, about 10%, and occur when gene mutations are passed within a family, from one generation to the next. Cancers begin when one or more genes in a cell are mutated, or changed, creating an abnormal protein or no protein at all.  The information provided by the abnormal protein is different from that of the normal protein, which can cause cells to multiply uncontrollably and become cancerous.  Most types of hereditary Pancreatic Cancer occur when a mutation needs to happen in only one copy of the gene for the person to have an increased risk of getting the disease.

Sporadic or hereditary, a genetic mutation occurred in someone's cell.  My great grandfather, who lived in Camden NJ died of Pancreatic Cancer.  His daughter, my great aunt, who was born in Camden, also died of Pancreatic Cancer.  Thorium, Radium and Uranium were the toxic and radioactive metals produced by the Welsbach & General Gas Mantle facilities in Camden between 1880 and 1942.  Studies show that inhaling thorium dust causes an increased risk of developing cancer of the pancreas.  Living directly at the Delaware River is like being in a windstorm.  My ancestors homes, playgrounds, churches, grocery stores and backyards were within a one to two mile radius of this site.  Inhalation, injection, or body exposure to radium can cause cancer and other body disorders.  Uranium is damaging to the pancreas, insulin production, information flow and cell function.  My ancestors relied on the public water provided by the city of Camden for their drinking water, their showers and their cooking water.  Could prolonged exposure to any of these metals mutate a human's genes to the point of creating cancer? 

Now, as if the radioactive metal contamination wasn't enough, then my ancestors were subjected to contamination provided by the Martin Aaron facilities from 1886 - 1998.  The primary metal contaminating the Potomac-Raritan-Magothy aquifer from this EPA Superfund Site was Arsenic.  Exposure to arsenic-contaminated wells may be associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. 

The majority of Pancreatic Cancers, as you recall, are sporadic.  My father's ancestors were not from Camden.  However, he did live in Pennsauken for a quarter of a century.  Pennsauken is part of Camden County, and also provides its residents with water from the Potomac-Raritan-Magothy aquifer.  In addition to the contaminants from the Welsbach and Martin Aaron sites, Pennsauken has at least two Superfund Sites of their own: Puchack Well Field and Swope Oil.  Hexavalent Chromium, Arsenic, Lead and Mercury are the metals of choice contaminating the Potomac-Raritan-Magothy from these Superfund Sites.

Chromium is already well recognized as having negative effects as a mutagen, binding and inducing DNA damage (single strand breaks), and has the potential to cause cell transformation.  Interesting is that cigarette smoke is an established risk factor for pancreatic cancer.  Cigarette smoke is known to contain hazardous metals like chromium, cadmium, and lead.  When a study was performed to determine how these metals in cigarette smoke impacted the pancreas, only chromium was significantly elevated in the pancreatic juices of patients with pancreatic cancer.

Mercury is probably the most interesting subject of interest when trying to find its link to Pancreatic Cancer.  The best articles about Mercury and Pancreatic Cancer have revolved around the Rutherford Building.  Ernest Rutherford won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908 for his research with radioactive substances.  One of those substances was Mercury.  One hundred years after his work at the University of Manchester, three Doctors who were occupying Rutherford's former offices died of Pancreatic Cancer in 2007 and 2008.  The offices were condemned during an investigation that showed that the spaces were still contaminated with Mercury.  The University concluded, however, that the cases were incidental, and not linked to the Mercury, but there is so much evidence to the contrary.  Research has proven that mercury can damage insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. 

What a Pandora's box I have opened.  Is it better to live your life in ignorance, believing that your cancer is just your fate, and that your fate is in the hands of the Doctors and Surgeons treating you?  My research has blatantly shown me that no one really is willing to let the cat out of the bag on the causes of Pancreatic Cancer.  If you cannot rely on the EPA, the FDA, the Scientists, and the Physicians for accurate reporting of the health effects caused by substances we are exposed to day in and day out, how can you leave your fate in their hands?  I haven't quite figured out why the silence exists, but it exists.