Comparing Cancer Rates Around Other Landfills

The Alliance For A Clean Environment

ELEVATED CANCER COMPARISONS

LANDFILL STUDIES SHOW SAME CANCERS ARE ELEVATED AS ARE ELEVATED AROUND THE POTTSTOWN LANDFILL

Most of the SAME CANCERS ELEVATED around other landfills are also HIGHER around the Pottstown Landfill than the state and tri county (some significantly higher). There are several additional cancers elevated around the Pottstown Landfill that are not elevated around those landfills.

1. New York State Department of Health - Studied 7 Cancers Around 38 Landfills

LUNG, KIDNEY, BLADDER, BRAIN, LIVER CANCERS, LEUKEMIA, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The incidence for ALL 7 KINDS of CANCER was ELEVATED around the landfills.
VOC’s were found escaping from 25 landfills. Those carcinogens found off-site included vinyl chloride, benzene, and methylene chloride.

Around Pottstown Landfill - PA Cancer Registry – 1995 to 1999 - LUNG, KIDNEY, BLADDER, BRAIN CANCERS, and LEUKEMIA all HIGHER than the national and tri county averages, (Several Significantly)

2. A 1995 study showed that people living near landfills have an increased risk of getting cancer.

The Miron Quarry study in Montreal Quebec studied families living near that large municipal solid waste landfill.
LUNG, STOMACH, LIVER, and PROSTATE were elevated among men. Cervix/Uterus and Stomach were elevated among women.

Around Pottstown Landfill – PA Cancer Registry – 1995 to 1999 - LUNG AND UTERINE - HIGHER than the national and tri county averages. Liver and stomach cancer rates are unknown.

3. A 1990 study found an increased incidence of BLADDER cancers near a landfill in Illinois.

Around Pottstown Landfill – PA Cancer Registry – 1995 to 1999 - BLADDER CANCER - 35.5 % HIGHER than the national average 17.9 % HIGHER than tri county

4. A 1989 study by U.S. EPA examined 593 waste sites in 339 U.S. counties, revealing elevated cancers of the LUNG, BLADDER, RECTUM, and STOMACH in the counties with the highest concentrations of waste sites.

Around Pottstown Landfill – PA Cancer Registry – 1995 to 1999 - LUNG, BLADDER, AND RECTUM - HIGHER than national and tri county averages

5. Increased incidence of LEUKEMIA has been reported in a community near a toxic waste dump in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

6. A 1986 study of children in Woburn, Massassachusetts statistically linked LEUKEMIA to a contaminated waste site.

Around Pottstown Landfill – PA Cancer Registry – 1995-1999 - The LEUKEMIA rate around the Pottstown Landfill has been HIGHER than the tri county for at least 15 years. The average above the tri county is approximately 40% higher, a statistically significant difference.

Waste Management’s hired consultant reminded us that it is the trends that are significant. The LEUKEMIA Rate around the Pottstown Landfill remains higher than the state and tri-county averages.