10/06/2026
A Grove City-based nonprofit is asking the public to be more vigilant about the risks of childhood and youth cancer, which is higher than the national average in Lawrence County.
The Citizens’ Environmental Association of the Slippery Rock Area (CEASRA) presented findings from Lauren Minsky, executive director of The People’s Cancer Incidence Screening Tool (PCIST), which is a resource to calculate 20-year crude incidence rates of the 23 most commonly diagnosed cancers across the Commonwealth’s municipalities.
Minsky and the PCIST used publicly available data from state cancer registries and health departments from 2002 to 2021 to calculate which communities experience an elevated rate of the cancers, as well as provide known sources of air, water and soil pollution.
They determined the number of youth, from newborn to age 29, have an elevated rate of at least 50 percent higher than the U.S. national average.
Based on its findings, the PCIST listed the list of cancers reported in each municipality and their rates compared to the national rate.
•Bessemer — four times the rate of leukemia and thyroid cancer
•Ellport — brain plus nervous system and thyroid (four times) and leukemia and testicular cancer (two-to-three times)
•Ellwood City — cervical, liver plus bile and urinary plus bladder (four times), kidney plus renal, thyroid and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (two-to-three times) and brain and nervous system (one-and-a-half to two times)
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•Hickory — non-Hodgkin lymphoma (three-to-four times)
•Little Beaver — brain plus nervous system and colon plus re**al (four times) and leukemia (three-to-four times)
•Mahoning — leukemia (two-to-three times) and brain plus nervous system (one-and-a-half to two times)
•New Castle — ovarian and stomach (four times), brain plus nervous (two-to-three times) and liver plus bile, testicular and thyroid (one-and-a-half to two times)
•Neshannock — oral plus pharynx (three-to-four times), colon plus re**al (two-to-three times) and leukemia, melanoma and thyroid (one-and-a-half to two times)
•New Beaver — liver plus bile, lung plus bronchial, melanoma and testicular (four times)
•New Wilmington — melanoma (four times)
•North Beaver and SNPJ — colon plus re**al and thyroid (four times), testicular (two-to-three times) and leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (one-and-a-half to two times)
•Perry — colon plus re**al and pancreatic (four times) and Hodgkin lymphoma and testicular (three-to-four times)
•Plain Grove — non-Hodgkin lymphoma and thyroid (four times)
•Pulaski — colon plus re**al (four times) and melanoma (two-to-three times)
•Scott — melanoma (three-to-four times) and leukemia (one-and-a-half to two times)
•Shenango — kidney plus renal (three-to-four times) and Hodgkin lymphoma (two-to-three times)
•Slippery Rock — melanoma and thyroid (two-to-three times) and brain plus nervous system, Hodgkin lymphoma and testicular (one-and-a-half to two times)
•Taylor — ovarian (four times)
•Union — melanoma (one-a-a-half to two times)
•Volant — thyroid (four times)
•Wampum — Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (four times)
•Washington — testicular (four times) and thyroid (three to four times)
•Wayne — cervical and colon plus re**al (four times), leukemia, melanoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (three to four times) and Hodgkin lymphoma (two-to-three times)
•Wilmington — leukemia (two-to-three times) and brain plus nervous system (one-and-a-half to two times)
No data was given for Enon Valley.
Lisa Stern, a member of CEASRA, said there are areas in the county with elevated levels of radioactive radium-226 in the soil, water or air, which is a carcinogen with a half-life of 1,600 years.
Some of the excess radium-226 is a by-product of fracking.
“There are no federal or state laws limiting transportation, processing or discharge of radioactive waste produced by fracking,” Stern said.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows discharges into waterways up to 60 pCi/L, with the Federal Drinking Water Law at 5 pCi/L.
A 2016 Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) study documented 203 pCi/L in the Shenango River, 96 pCi/L in the Mahoning River and 60 pCi/L in the Mahoning River, all through dumping by companies and municipal authorities.
The PCIST listed 12 locations in the county that are power plants, wastewater or sewage treatment plants, factories, waste sites or landfills that could be contributing to the higher cancer rates.
Stern is asking the state General Assembly to pass House Bill 665 and State Bills 454, 454 and 455, which would amend the Solid Waste Management Act to account for more provisions and protections.
A Grove City-based nonprofit is asking the public to be more vigilant about the risks of childhood and youth cancer, which is higher than the national average in Lawrence County.
