Mystery plagues high school after 100 former students and staff get brain tumors in NJ

By Julia Marnin, The Charlotte Observer (TNS)

A brewing mystery has plagued a New Jersey high school after more than 100 former students and staff say they’ve developed rare brain tumors.

Several of these people have already died, according to Colonia High School graduate Al Lupiano, who said he was diagnosed with a primary brain tumor in 1999 in a now-viral Facebook post. His sister and wife, both former students, also received primary brain tumor diagnoses, he said.

Now, the reports by local residents have attracted the attention of state agencies, which are investigating if potential ”environmental exposure concerns are present” at the school in Woodbridge Township, state Department of Health spokesperson Nancy Kearney told McClatchy News in a statement.

Kearney said the health department as well as the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection are “partnering” with the township’s mayor “to better understand the issue.”

McClatchy News reached out to Colonia High School officials for comment on April 18.

Investigation into the reports

Some, including Lupiano, who works as an environmental administrator for a state company, are wondering whether the mysterious tumor clusters are caused by possible radiation exposure.

On April 17, environmentalists from engineering firm T+M Associates were testing for radiation on school grounds, ABC7 reported. The testing is planned to take a month.

Those diagnosed with brain tumors attended or worked at the school roughly between 1975-1995, Lupiano, who graduated in 1989, wrote on Facebook after gathering case reports. His personal investigation has propelled the issue into the national spotlight.

“We ask for patience as we pursue the science to try to identify answers,” Kearney said, adding that the health department is working with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) “to provide an assessment of the potential health effects.”

“If there are any potential environmental exposure pathways identified and a need for further environmental sampling, the state Health Department will work cooperatively with ATSDR to conduct a public health assessment and evaluate the potential for health effects,” Kearney said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is also aware of “the community’s concerns” and are taking them “seriously,” spokesperson Elías Rodríguez told McClatchy News in a statement. The agency is communicating with the state departments involved amid their investigation, he said.

Brain tumor reports emerge

On March 7, Lupiano took to Facebook and wrote “calling all Colonia High School (CHS) alumni…I am in urgent need of your help!”

At the time, he detailed how his 44-year-old sister recently died due to a “very rare and highly aggressive malignant glioma brain tumor” — Glioblastoma Multiforme — found on the left side of her brain. She graduated from the school, which was built in 1967, in 1995.

She was diagnosed in August 2021 on the same day his wife, who graduated in 1991 and was told she had a “very rare brain tumor called an Acoustic Neuroma (aka Vestibular Schwannoma) on her left side,” Lupiano wrote.

“Why is this alarming? In 1999, I too was diagnosed with a very rare brain tumor on my left side. This now makes three of us in one family with primary brain tumors – all on the left side,” he wrote.

The American Cancer Society reports “the best known environmental risk factor for brain tumors is radiation exposure” and that “radiation-induced tumors” are rare.

In his post, Lupiano called on high school alumni and staff to contact him if they’ve been diagnosed with a primary brain tumor and has proceeded to collect case reports.

On March 16, Lupiano wrote that several news outlets seemed disinterested in the issue, but that soon changed.

By April 5, the brain tumor reports were highlighted by national news outlets as well as on social media platforms, including TikTok, he said.

In an update, Lupiano wrote that he recorded the 100th primary brain tumor case on April 11 with two more reports emerging hours later.

“I never in my worst nightmare envisioned ever hitting this milestone,” he wrote. ”That’s 100 people with their life forever changed.”

McClatchy News contacted Lupiano, who wasn’t immediately available for comment on April 18.

Woodbridge Township Mayor John McCormac told ABC7 that “it’s alarming because there are just so many people with a tumor — malignant or benign, and it’s serious. We have to really take a look at it.”

“We thank Mayor McCormac and the local residents for raising these concerns,” Kearney told McClatchy News.

On April 16, Woodbridge Schools Superintendent Joseph Massimino told WCBS that he was waiting for an update from the agencies involved in the current investigation.

“I’m a lifelong resident here. I raised my family here. So, the health and safety of our students are of paramount importance to me,” Massimino told the outlet.

Woodbridge Township is roughly 45 miles northeast of Trenton.

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