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Home Resources News In the News Could Cape's Cancer Rates Be Linked To The Water?
Could Cape's Cancer Rates Be Linked To The Water?
Written by Mish Michaels   
Tuesday, 26 May 2009 17:00
Silent Spring found traces of steroidal hormones, antibiotics, estrogenic hormones, as well as some other drugs in six Cape Cod ponds.

Cancer is a word that strikes fear in all of us. It's also one that women on Cape Cod hear all too often.

Researchers want to know why breast cancer rates there are so high. They are now investigating whether the problem could have something to do with the water.

Betty Anne Bevis of Marstons Mills is a breast cancer survivor. After enduring four lumpectomies, four rounds of chemotherapy, and 33 radiation treatments, she is grateful to spend time in her barn with her two horses. "It's tough when you are going through it. It impacted my whole family. It was huge, someone who never thought about having breast cancer, and then all of sudden, it's in your face."

Breast cancer has always been a troubling problem on the Cape. Some studies indicate that the rates are 20 percent higher than the norm. Now scientists want to know if one of the causes literally could be something in the water.

Betty Ann is concerned that her illness could be linked to the environment. That's something that Kathleen Attfield, an environmental scientist from Silent Spring, is now investigating. She tested water from six ponds across Cape Cod. "It was really necessary that something be done to look at why the rates were elevated on the Cape."

In those ponds, Silent Spring found traces of steroidal hormones, antibiotics, estrogenic hormones, as well as some other drugs. All were believed to have leached into the ponds from septic systems, and potentially, into the water supply.

Attfield explained why the Cape could be vulnerable: "Eighty-five percent of the homes and business use septic systems, not a centralized treatment plant, so then you have these mini sources feeding into the same ground water that the drinking water is drawn from."

Another contributing factor could the sandy nature of the soil on the Cape. That allows the waste water travel more quickly, without giving those compounds time to degrade on their own before they end up back in the water supply.

Dr. James Chingos, an oncologist in Mashpee, says people should be concerned about exposure to estrogenic compounds. He has seen the number of cases climb in recent years. "The incidence back 10 to 12 years ago, was as high as one in nine. It's now dropped to one in eight."

He says it's possible that there is a link between the water and these numbers.

No one knows for sure yet, however.

That doesn't stop Betty Ann from worrying what living on the Cape could mean for the health of her daughter Jessie. "I will get emotional if I start thinking about it… I want my daughter to be safe."

Until more research is conducted, one precaution homeowners can take is to install a carbon filter on their faucets.