West Virginia residents living near streams that have been badly polluted by coal mining suffer from high rates of cancer, according to a new study. Research by two scientists at West Virginia University suggests a strong correlation — though not a direct causal link — between higher incidences of cancer and stream pollution. Reporting in the journal Ecohealth, the scientists said they used small invertebrate animals living in streams as an indicator of stream health. The researchers compared the health of streams with county-by-county cancer mortality rates compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Our results demonstrated significant relationships between increasing coal mining, decreasing ecological integrity [of streams], and increasing cancer mortality,” the researchers wrote. Coal mining, particularly mountaintop removal mining, has led to pollution of streams as mining debris is dumped into waterways and water containing metals and other pollutants seeps into streams and aquifers. The study showed that cancers of the respiratory, digestive, and urinary tracts, as well as breast cancer, increased as the ecological quality of streams deteriorated.
Study of Coal Region Streams Suggests Link Between Mining and Cancer
More From E360
-
INTERVIEW
How One South African Community Stopped Shell Oil in Its Tracks
-
ANALYSIS
Will New Leader End Progress in Saving Indonesia’s Forests?
-
Oceans
Dire Straits: Can a Fishing Ban Save the Elusive European Eel?
-
Climate
Scientists Are Trying to Coax the Ocean to Absorb More CO2
-
INTERVIEW
Marina Silva on Brazil’s Fight to Turn the Tide on Deforestation
-
Solutions
Solomon Islands Tribes Sell Carbon Credits, Not Their Trees
-
INTERVIEW
With Sea Turtles in Peril, a Call for New Strategies to Save Them
-
RIVERS
Jared Kushner Has Big Plans for Delta of Europe’s Last Wild River
-
Energy
A Nuclear Power Revival Is Sparking a Surge in Uranium Mining
-
OPINION
Despite Official Vote, the Evidence of the Anthropocene Is Clear
-
INTERVIEW
At 11,500 Feet, a ‘Climate Fast’ to Save the Melting Himalaya
-
Oceans
Octopuses Are Highly Intelligent. Should They Be Farmed for Food?