KEYPORT, N.J. (NewsNation) — Residents of this Jersey Shore town are set to confront local officials Thursday night over what they believe is a link between a nearby landfill and a growing cluster of cancer cases, now numbering nearly 400 diagnoses.
The concerns, which first surfaced over a cluster of cases on a single street, have expanded into a townwide health crisis residents say has been ignored by state officials who declared the old dumping site safe.
What’s in New Jersey town’s water? Cancer cluster affecting residents
New independent testing obtained by NewsNation found metals, benzene, vinyl chloride and PFAS — so-called “forever chemicals” — in groundwater at the site, with some contaminants exceeding state soil and groundwater standards.
Toxicologist Judith Zelikoff of New York University, who reviewed the results with her team, said the findings show the chemicals had the potential to contribute to health problems seen in the community, though she stopped short of directly linking them to residents’ cancers.
“There were a number of toxic and/or cancer-causing agents that were also exceeding the soil standards and groundwater accessibility standards. And from these data, and again, this is only from within the site, nothing so far to date has been done in the communities, just outside the communities. And so that work definitely needs to be done,” she said.
Keyport, New Jersey: Nearly 400 cancer cases tied to old landfill
She said establishing that connection would require additional specialized testing and analysis and noted the reviewed data covered only the site itself, not surrounding neighborhoods.
Nicole Henn, a Keyport resident whose daughter was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma — a rare bone cancer — at age 12 in 2022, said the lack of testing beyond the landfill’s boundaries leaves too many questions unanswered.
Her daughter underwent 14 rounds of chemotherapy, 28 radiation sessions and 60 hyperbaric treatments to address spinal cord damage from the radiation.
Henn said her daughter is now cancer-free but still undergoes scans every six months.
“This does not definitively say there is no pathway,” Henn said of the state’s assessment. “Because for me, if there is a pathway, then you have to look at the surrounding footprint.”
Fellow resident Sal Liguori lost his 36-year-old son, Anthony, to bone cancer four years ago. Liguori said the cancer spread through his son’s spine and bones. Liguori told NewsNation he has since been diagnosed with early-stage leukemia himself.
Residents argue the new test results undercut the state’s position that there’s no exposure pathway connecting the landfill to nearby homes and are pressing officials at Thursday’s town meeting for expanded testing beyond the site’s boundaries.