Bone Cancer Incidence in Texas Counties With Elevated Radium Content in Drinking Water
This research investigates the incidence rate of a site-specific cancer in counties with elevated levels of a naturally occurring radionuclide present in drinking water. The radionuclide present is radium which deposits in bone tissue and emits alpha particle radiation when it decays. Radium dose and carcinogenesis has been carefully researched in the cases of radium dial painters and patients who were administered radium nostrums and potions. This paper analyzes the bone cancer incidence in three Texas counties which contain levels of radium in drinking water that exceed the limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for safe drinking water. The source of compiled data for the concentrations of radium in drinking water is the Texas Department of Health (TDH) Water Hygiene Program. The methodology for lab analyses is taken from the TDH Bureau of Laboratories, and health physics rationale from the TDH Bureau of Radiation Control. Bone cancer data is obtained from the Cancer Registry of the TDH. The experimental design is a case-control study and found no difference between the cases and the controls.
drinking water, bones, cancer, radium, carcinogenicity
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