A cluster of tiny towns in Cappadocia, Turkey have become known as the cancer villages because half of the local deaths are due to mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the protective lining of the bodys major cavities and organs that is generally attributed to prolonged asbestos exposure.
However, in this case, asbestos is not the culprit, but rather another mineral called erionite.
Erionite has been used to build almost every part of these villages. It is found on the roads, in the fields and in the stones used to construct local buildings. It is thanks to the research done in these rural Turkish hamlets that many lives will be saved 9,500 kilometres away in Killdeer, North Dakota. The Killdeer mountains are rich in erionite and are the only nearby source of stone for surrounding Dunn County.
Ed Murphy, the North Dakotas state geologist, learned of the Turkish cancer villages five years ago and grew very concerned. Thanks to his investigation, erionite was found in the gravel covering hundreds of kilometers of roads, driveways, parking lots and fields. This meant that any time that gravel was disturbed, people were inhaling carcinogenic erionite, which can lead to the development of pleural or peritineal mesothelioma, which affects the lining of the lungs and abdomen respectively.
Murphys study eventually became a global collaboration involving cancer biologists, geologists, epidemiologists, environmental scientists and physicians. This team has come to the worrisome conclusion that the levels of erionite exposure in North Dakota are the same as in the Turkish cancer villages. Mesothelioma has yet to surface in North Dakota, but the evidence suggests that a large-scale clean-up effort should begin immediately.