Mar 24, 2019 3 min read

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is looking into a possible cluster of cancer cases in Washington County.

In the past 10 years, four people within Canon-McMillan School District have been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Ewing’s sarcoma.

Each year, fewer than 200 cases of Ewing’s sarcoma are diagnosed in the United States.

Nate Wardle, press secretary for the Department of Health, said the department is reviewing cancer statistics for Washington County and Canon-McMillan School District.

The Department of Health is using data from the Pennsylvania cancer registry to review cancer incidence in Washington County and Canon-McMillan and, using a protocol the department has in place, will determine if the number of cancer cases in the area is elevated compared to incidences for the same type of cancer in the rest of the state.

Wardle said the department has received calls from members of the community who are worried about cancer risks to children in the area.

Residents want to know if the cancer is coincidental or due to other factors, such as environmental issues.

“We are looking into all cancers, which specifically includes radiation-type cancers by type, childhood cancer and the Ewing’s family of sarcomas in Washington County and the Canon-McMillan School District,” Wardle wrote in an email. “Some of those who contacted us mentioned historic radiation sources in the area, and this prompted us to analyze the radiation-related cancers, in addition to the Ewing’s family and childhood cancer in general.”

Canonsburg was home to Standard Chemical Co., which operated the site as a radium extraction plant from 1911 to 1922, and later Vitro Corp. of America, processed ore to extract radium and uranium salts until 1957.

More than 200,000 dry tons of uranium mill tailings and other contaminated materials were buried in a clay-lined encapsulation cell. The Department of Energy monitors the site.

The Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project, a nonprofit public health organization whose purpose is to support people who believe their health has been, or could be, impacted by oil and gas development, said it is studying the cancer cases in the Canonsburg area.

The organization is calling for the Department of Health and the state Department of Environmental Protection to take a closer look at the occurrences of Ewing’s sarcoma.

The cause of Ewing’s sarcoma, which is more common in teens and young adults, is unknown.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition notes that, according to the American Cancer Society, there are at this time no known lifestyle-related or environmental causes of Ewing rumors.

The Department of Health’s cancer registry data dates to 1985, and the department is using all of the available data and dividing it into time periods for the evaluation.

Wardle said the Health Department should have results within a month.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the agency that monitors the Standard Chemical Co. site.