Cancer clusters kidney

During the summer of 1979, residents in this eastern Massachusetts town became concerned an apparent cluster of six leukemia cases, diagnosed since 1969 in children of families living in a 6-block area in the southeastern portion of the town (1970 total population 37,067). The cluster was reported to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) and to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) both by local citizens and a Boston physician. Concern was also expressed regarding other cancers, especially kidney cancer. An assessment of town-specific cancer mortality rates made independently by MDPH at about the same time for the 1969-1978 decade in Massachusetts showed statistically significant elevations in Woburn for all cancers, as well as for several specific kinds of cancer. 

Cluster 1 Childhood Leukemia 468 Cluster 2 Prostate Cancer 468 Clusters 3-6 Testicular Cancer 469 Cluster 7 Brain Cancer Cluster—Electronic Workers 469 Cluster 8 Brain Cancer Cluster—Petrochemical Workers 470 Cluster 9 Brain Cancers in Offspring of Electronic Workers 470 Cluster 10 Kidney Cancer Cluster 471 Cluster 11 Colorectal Cancer Cluster 471 Cluster 12 Multiple Cancer Cluster 471 Cluster 13 Lung Cancer Cluster 472 Cluster 14 Childhood Leukemia 472 Cluster 15 Multiple Cancer Clusters 473 Cluster 16 Toxic Waste Disposal Site-Related Clusters 474... 

A cluster of kidney cancers developed in workers at a printed paperboard box manufacturing plant. 13 These workers were exposed to a mixture of the following chemicals, as well as to several ink pigment waxes, additives, and adhesives ... 

None of the chemicals to which these workers were exposed is known to cause kidney cancer. The results of this study are interesting when compared to those reported for commercial pressmen who worked with many of the same chemicals. 14 The commercial pressmen had increased numbers of all cancers, whereas the printed paperboard box workers had a cluster of kidney cancers only, with no other cancer increases observed. This comparison points out the unique nature of the mixture to which the printed paperboard box workers were exposed, which triggered kidney cancer only, and in large numbers. 

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