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Are you referring to a specific study? I haven't heard anything lately regarding NJ and cancer. I've heard about Long Island's higher than normal breast cancer rates.
Are you referring to high rates in children in the South Jersey area? There was a huge issue in the 90's and I believe, while being corrected, people are still concerned, regarding the water in Toms River (Dover) section. Other than that, I've never heard of a higher cancer rate in NJ than elsewhere. But thanks because now I have something else to stress over LOL.
Yeah South Jersey has high cancer rates in children because there used to be Super Plants down there that dumped there waste in the water.
Lyndhurst has a high cancer rate as well. They thinks its from the dumps. I think the metro area in general have a high cancer rate b/c of all the pollution.
I hesitate to get involved with a thread like this because it invariably leads to an argument with conspiracy theory types, what I call environmental wacko's and those who can retell one anacdotel story after another. ........There...that outta PO a bunch of folks
You CANNOT take a small data sample...compare it to the "average or normal" and come to any valid conclusions. The average is just that..an average. It's the sum of the samples divided by the number of samples. For any sample, if it is well above ,, or well below the average value that fact in and of itself means NOTHING.........NOTHING.
This is not the proper forum for a indepth mathmatical discussion of statistics, (and that's not field of expertise) but I've had enough experience with a couple of studies involving cancer rates versus microwave radiation exposure to understand the big misconceptions. From a team of statisticians let me pass on this non-math example which if you "noodle" it a bit will give you good insight into lots of the chicken little reporting that the news media is so fond of passing along.
A thought experiment. Take a flour sifter into an enclosed empty room with a clean dark floor. At arms length sift flour onto the floor for say one minute. Then slowly retreat away from the area and wait 10 minutes. When you return you will see a large dusty area on the floor which is "whiter" in the center and more of less uniformly becomes less white as you look further away from the center. Thus far everything is exactly what you'd expect to see. Now..get a magifiying glass and get on your knees. Carefully begin to examine the floor. You will find areas where in a small area there are almost no particles of flour dust. Look elsewhere and you will find a small patch where there are many flour particles...some might even be clumped together... And the over there...just a little bit to the side is another patch where there is only one particle. What does it all mean ???...NOTHING And...that generally includes those anacdotel exceptions you're about to tell me about.
It's the nature of random distribution. It doesn't mean that the surface will be uniform..infact..if it's truly random it's certain that it will NOT be uniform. There are no special forces at work that keep the flour particles from some areas while at the same time causing them the accumulate in above average numbers in other areas. It's RANDOM and there will always be areas above and below the average particle count. No magic, no special cases, no unseen forces at work behind the scene.
With this example in mind and bit of scientific skepticism you'll find that most of the "sky is falling" talk from the mass news media is BS.
One thing I do know firsthand about NJ children and cancer,
We do have wonderful hospitals in the area, such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Robert Wood Johnson, Albert Einstein Medical Center, Montefiore, and support systems, like Emmanuel Cancer Foundation for Children, and so many others, that,
god forbid you do need it,
at least we have it.
iriegirl... Very True... I also happen to know first hand that a number of those institutions you mentioned routinely fund small bussiness research projects in hope of stumbling upon even a minor advancement. It's done quietly, without public fanfair, but it goes on behind the scenes all the time. They should be supported...some of them do great work with funds from their own profits.
Ok, in Toms River there was a plant Ciba Geigi (not sure of the spelling) which made contact lenses on Oakridge pkwy many years ago. Where most locals worked. They were illegally dumping the chemicals and dyes which contaminated the well water. Thus leading to a rise in brain cancer in children in the surrounding area. (just heartbreaking) Since then Ciba became a superfund site and was legally forced to clean up up the mess they left behind. Please let me say that with all the info at hand now it is no longer a problem. If you live right by the plant I would just not use well water for consuption. People now a days use well water only for watering your lawn or washing your car. There was a movie made a few years back with either John Travolta or Julia Roberts (not sure which) that is about this and actually has a statement at the end of the movie confirming this. Let me say I live and love the Toms River area. Just get bottled water to be safe.
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