Investigation Into Huntersville Ocular Cancer Cluster Hits Hurdle: Report

HUNTERSVILLE, NC -- An environmental investigation into the soil around Hopewell High School in Huntersville has not found any conclusive evidence of a cause behind the town's cluster of ocular cancer cases, according to reports.

While the eye cancer typically strikes five in a million, there have been at least a dozen cases that have one thing in common: Huntersville. In 2016, Huntersville lawmakers obtained a $100,000 grant from the state of North Carolina to research the possible causes of the cluster.

Researchers haven't been able to prove, however, if a chemical has caused the cluster of ocular melanoma cases in Huntersville, they told town officials in a recent letter, according to a report by WSOCTV.

“It’s going to be a long, long path, and we just have to keep moving down that road until we get the answers,” Huntersville town commissioner Rob Kidwell told the news station.

According to a Charlotte Observer report earlier this year, nine of a dozen eye cancer victims from Huntersville were female, six were under 30 when they received their diagnosis, and three had attended the high school. Four of the victims have died, the newspaper said.

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