No abstract

The incidence of low birth weight among white live-born infants from 1940 through 1978 was studied in various sections of the Love Canal. A statistically significant excess was found in the historic swale area from 1940 through 1953, the period when various chemicals were dumped in this disposal site. Potential confounding factors such as medical-therapeutic histories, smoking, education, maternal age, birth order, length of gestation, and urban-rural difference did not appear to account for this observation. Low birth weight rates were comparable to those of upstate New York from 1954 through 1978, the period when there was no deposition of chemical wastes.

No abstract

Mesothelioma incidence rates based on data from population-based cancer registries in New York State (exclusive of New York City), Los Angeles County, California, and the SEER Program of the National Cancer Institute were analyzed for trends, using original cancer registry diagnoses. Results indicate a significant increase in incidence during 1973-80 for pleural mesothelioma among white males older than 55 at time of diagnosis but not for other age-race-sex-site subgroups. A histopathologic review of New York State and Los Angeles County cases by two independent pathologists, expert in the diagnosis of mesothelioma, lowered the overall estimates but a significant upward trend remained. The observed trend does not appear to be related to changes in diagnostic practice. The results of a five-member panel of expert pathologists will be published in a separate methodology paper.

Data from the New York Cancer Registry show no evidence for higher cancer rates associated with residence near the Love Canal toxic waste burial site in comparison with the entire state outside of New York City. Rates of liver cancer, lymphoma, and leukemia, which were selected for special attention, were not consistently elevated. Among the other cancers studied, a higher rate was noted only for respiratory cancer, but it was not consistent across age groups and appeared to be related to a high rate for the entire city of Niagara Falls. There was no evidence that the lung cancer rate was associated with the toxic wastes buried at the dump site.