Maine has the highest cancer rate in the nation. The Maine Institute for Human Genetics and Health in Brewer and James W. Sewall Co. in Old Town have teamed up in an innovative project to map a myriad of features — man-made and natural — such as locations of industrial sites, pesticide application areas, watersheds, sites of toxic spills and dumps, natural deposits of arsenic and mercury, and more. This will be combined with clinical, laboratory and patient-survey data so researchers can look for correlations between disease and the environment.
What do you think they will find? Can environmental and occupational hazards be tied to future health problems? If so, whose responsibility is it to minimize such risks?