Radiation Testing Underway At NJ School With Possible Cancer Link

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Air quality testing is being done at Colonia High School this week, while the Woodbridge school district is closed for spring break.

The testers are specifically testing for radon levels in the air after 1989 Colonia High School grad Al Lupiano proposed this theory that he found an unusually high number of brain cancers and brain tumors, and said they could be linked to the high school.

The testing actually started April 9, and testers have been seen walking around Colonia High School, taking air samples to test for radiation, said Woodbridge town spokesman John Hagerty. They are leaving radon canisters at the school for 14 days, which will test for elevated levels of radon.

As per this resolution approved at their April 5 meeting, the Woodbridge town Council hired T & M Associates and Cabrera Services, Inc. to do the radon testing (officially called "environmental engineering services for radiological assessment") at the high school. Woodbridge Township is paying T&M Associates $221,350 to do the radon testing.

Woodbridge will not get preliminary test results until after this Saturday, April 23, said Hagerty. The results will then be reviewed by federal agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency, plus the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Health.

"The EPA and CDC are not testing at Colonia High School," said Hagerty. "They are working with the Township to review the test findings and prepare a course of action if necessary."

Additionally, T&M Associates has begun conducting historic site research to obtain any and all necessary records related to the construction of Colonia High School when it was built in 1967, through to the present.

Also, just on Monday Gov. Phil Murphy was asked by reporters for his thoughts on the possible brain cancer cluster at Colonia High. In his first public comments on the matter, Murphy told reporters he is taking this issue "very seriously," but also cautioned:

"I don't know that we know enough yet to be definitive in terms of causation," Murphy said, according to 101.5. "That's something that we take very seriously. Again too early to tell yet, I think, to draw any definitive conclusions."

Lupiano grew up in Woodbridge Township and he now works as an environmental scientist; he no longer lives in Woodbridge. As of April 11, Lupiano wrote on this personal Facebook page that he now has tracked about 100 people with rare brain tumors — and they all are either Colonia High School graduates or worked in the school building.

Lupiano, his wife and his sister — all Colonia High grads — were all diagnosed with rare brain tumors. His sister succumbed to brain cancer.

"100…as of midnight Sunday 4/10, I recorded the 100th case of someone having a primary brain tumor," Lupiano wrote on Facebook last Monday, April 11. "I never in my worst nightmare envisioned ever hitting this milestone ... I pray we find answers."

"We are taking this incredibly seriously," Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac told Patch earlier this April, saying that he finds Lupiano's theory "quite credible and legitimate."

"Just the sheer numbers of cases he's found is staggering," McCormac continued. "Woodbridge Township contacted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the CDC, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) (which is part of CDC), and the state Department of Health last week, and we've begun initial discussions with them."

McCormac previously said he also expects the ground and soil around Colonia High School will be tested, along with the air inside the high school building.

"We're going to test and hope we find nothing," McCormac previously said. "And if we do find something, we're going to deal with the consequences."

Lupiano is still looking for any and all Colonia High School alumni to come forward. He said he is specifically looking for anyone who graduated from or attend Colonia High School from approximately 1975 to 1995.

"Given the ongoing environmental investigation and testing, it is premature to comment on any link and/or causation of cancer diagnosis that may or may not be related to Colonia High School," said Woodbridge town spokesman Hagerty. "It is also important to note that the data compiled and posted to social media by Mr. Lupiano has yet to be evaluated and verified by any federal, state, county or municipal agency with competent jurisdiction to fully vet and verify his research."

First Patch report: Brain Tumor Link To Colonia High School 'Credible,' Town's Mayor Says

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