Gensburg L, Pantea C, Kielb C, Fitzgerald E, Stark A, Kim N. Cancer Incidence among Former Love Canal Residents. Environmental Health Perspectives [serial online]. August 2009;117(8):1265-1271. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed October 14, 2012.
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This article was written by the University of Albany, and I felt that there was little to no bias within the piece. It was very informative and purely conveyed tested facts. The authors did not even make any inferences in the end, they just labeled their study as inconclusive due to their small sample size among other factors.
Love Canal was a 16 acre waste landfill that was in a residential neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York. The contamination became the center for the public eye in 1978, and became of the first superfund sites, and the very first site of contamination that was adressed by the public level. This study studies Cancer incidences in the former residents that lived near Love Canal. We can use this data to draw some inferences about the health risks that the current residents of the Gowanus Canal may face.
Out of the 5052 former residents in the study, 304 were diagnosed with caner, found though the NYS Caner Registry. The cancer incidence of the former Love Canal residents was compared to the cancer incidence in all of New York State and Niagara County. The different risks of exposure to the landfill were also taken into consideration during the study.
It was found that cancer of the bladder and kidney was elevated on a 95% confidence interval. The rates of cancer were higher in the people who were children when exposed to the landfill as children. However, since the sample size was too small, and many factors could have affected people over 20 years ago, the study could not establish a cause and effect relationship between living in a superfund site and higher rates of cancer. It does attribute some of the reason to having cancer on the superfund site, but it cannot say if it is the major reason.
This has implications for the residents of the Gowanus Canal. They are also living in a superfund site, and those people, especially children, could potentially be at a higher risk to develop diseases such as kidney or bladder cancer.
Another interesting piece regarding public health and methodology. Two additional notes. You start: “This article was written by the University of Albany.” I think you mean “researchers at U of A.” Also, be careful to proofread: “diagnosed with caner…[and] NYS Caner Registry…”