Cancer in Georgetown and Millsboro, Sussex, De (Middletown, Ocean View: 2015, power lines)

[Cobax]

I am reading reports in the news about high cancer rates in the Georgetown and Millsboro areas of Sussex, De.. The reports are very vague and sketchy. Does anyone have more specific or detailed information about where the high risk areas high risk areas are? A listener commented to an article from a radio station that Route 30 near Springfield Rd. in Georgetown is a high risk area. Does anyone have any information on this area?
Is the cancer a result of air quality, water polution or whatever?
Heard that there is an evaluation being done on Millsboro area residents who have voluntered to participate in this health study.

[longnecker]

O.K thtis is from someone who actually lives in the area. There is a coal powered power plant on Indian River just outside Millsboro town limits. Running from the power plant in several directions is a grid of above ground high voltage power lines which are supposed to be dangerous.
Sussex Countians are very independent people and are going to be among the last to give up their cigarette just because somebody says so.
We have MANY seniors moving here to retire from all over who may be bringing their cancers with them.
I have owned property in the area since 1980 and lived full time here for the last 21 or 22 years. I do not see a lot of cancers among the nonsmokers who I know and give absolutely no thought to leaving because of the danger.

[beachliz]

I won't leave my area either regardless of what the stats state, but then again I live in Ocean View....far enough away from the major cancer clusters for me, at least. Nobody in my household smokes either so that lessens our cancer risk as well.

I know I posted about this before, but I lived in the Oak Orchard and Warwick area (near Gull Point) from 1985-2000 which very, very close to the power plant. I was treated for almost full-blown female cancer in my early 20's, back in the mid 90's. I'm otherwise very healthy, no family history of this cancer, never smoked or did drugs a day in my life, and I grew up in a non-smoking household. STILL had to endure painful biopsies and cryotherapy to remove the abnormal tissue. My next step was major surgery and chemo/radiation. Thankfully, my doctor was one of the best in the country and he did an excellent job removing the abnormal cell growth. No more problems and I have been "in the clear" for almost 15 years. I often wonder if my problem was due to living near the power plant from ages 11-25. I guess I'll never know, but I am glad I don't live in that area anymore.

[James420]

Originally Posted by longnecker

O.K thtis is from someone who actually lives in the area. There is a coal powered power plant on Indian River just outside Millsboro town limits. Running from the power plant in several directions is a grid of above ground high voltage power lines which are supposed to be dangerous.
Sussex Countians are very independent people and are going to be among the last to give up their cigarette just because somebody says so.
We have MANY seniors moving here to retire from all over who may be bringing their cancers with them.
I have owned property in the area since 1980 and lived full time here for the last 21 or 22 years. I do not see a lot of cancers among the nonsmokers who I know and give absolutely no thought to leaving because of the danger.

There were two small clusters some years ago near the powerplant and near Middletown,DE. Thats all I've heard about, I don't think the cluster near the power plant is still active. You are correct again longnecker!!!

So sorry to hear liz and I'm happy its gone, good for you girl!!!!!!

Actually cobax, probably our best informed resident on cancer issues (sadly former resident) would be the young lady queenofbavaria who is now living in N.C. She still comes around from time to time.

[RememberMee]

Since I was just driving by, I can offer only 3rd party knowledge/speculations:

Sussex County Delaware, the birthplace of the broiler chicken industry, produces more chickens than any other county in the United States and is home to the headquarters of 3 of the Top 20 broiler producing companies in the country.

Roxarsone—4-hydroxy-3-nitrobenzenearsonic acid—is by far the most common arsenic-based additive used in chicken feed. It is mixed in the diet of about 70% of the 9 billion broiler chickens produced annually in the U.S. In its original organic form, roxarsone is relatively benign. It is less toxic than the inorganic forms of arsenic-arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)]. However, some of the 2.2 million lb of roxarsone mixed in the nation's chicken feed each year converts into inorganic arsenic within the bird, and the rest is transformed into inorganic forms after the bird excretes it.

Chemical & Engineering News: Government & Policy - Arsenic In Chicken Production

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, long-term exposure to inorganic arsenic can cause bladder, lung, skin, kidney, and colon cancer, as well as deleterious immunological, neurological, and endocrine effects. Low-level exposures can lead to partial paralysis and diabetes. "None of this was known in the 1950s when arsenicals were first approved for use in poultry," says Ellen K. Silbergeld, a toxicologist at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

[KatieNK]

Delaware has high cancer rates. I would probably feel safer in your area than along the C&D canal, though!

NDCA » Eight cancer clusters discovered in Delaware - National Disease Cluster Alliance