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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Perry D. Cohn, PhD, MPH, Consumer and Environmental Health Services, New Jersey Dept of Health and Senior Services, PO Box 369, Trenton, NJ 08625-0369, (609) 588-3120, perry.cohn@doh.state.nj.us, Ric Skinner, MS, Dept. of Surgery -- GIS Program, Baystate Medical Center, 759 Chestnut St, Springfield, MA 01199, Stasia Burger, Cancer Epidemiology Service, New Jersey Dept of Health and Senior Services, PO Box 369, Trenton, NJ 08625-0369, and Judith Klotz, DrPH, Cancer Epidemiology Services, New Jersey Dept of Health and Senior Services, PO Box 369, Trenton, NJ 08625-0369.
There is considerable interest in the epidemiologic corroboration of existing cancer risk estimates for low dose radium ingestion. The issue concerns New Jersey because a band of the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer, the drinking water source for much of the southern half of the state, contains relatively high levels of naturally occurring radium. We conducted an exploratory study of community water systems in southern New Jersey, using the address at the time of diagnosis from the State Cancer Registry. Where applicable, we divided systems into subsystems, based on level of radioactivity, system architecture and pumpage. One exposure metric accounted for systems that were above the 5 pCi/L USEPA maximum contaminant level (MCL) for combined radium-226 and -228 and/or above the gross alpha MCL of 15 pCi/L. The second metric was combined isotope activity weighted by relative cancer potency (Federal Guidance 13, 1999). The number of exposed individuals was 125,000-275,000, depending on metric and cut-point, while the unexposed population was 1,000,000-1,300,000. Incidence in areas above either MCL was 70% higher than in areas below both MCLs. Among males the rate ratio (RR) was 3.3. With the radium cancer potency metric, the resulting overall incidence among those exposed at > 4 pCi/L and 2.0-3.9 pCi/L was 40% and 80% higher than those whose tap water had less than 0.5 pCi/L. For males RRs were 3.1 and 3.7, respectively. Risks calculated from these observations are within an order of magnitude of that predicted by USEPA by linear extrapolation from highly exposed historical cohorts.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Cancer, Drug Abuse
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.