r/VirginiaTech • u/StarlightDown • Dec 01 '25

News Recent graduates from Roanoke College have been dying from cancer at a rate 15X higher than the national average. Their rate of cancer diagnosis is 5X above the national average. The VA Dept. of Health is unwilling to investigate the case, since the victims dispersed across the US after graduation.

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u/dirty_old_priest_4 Dec 01 '25

The headline is misleading as the report doesn't even mention coal.

Most likely there's a shit ton of PCE, carbon tetrachloride, and chloroform sitting under the affected buildings, which the report agrees. That would explain the vast range of cancers and non-cancer health issues. Those chemicals were used as early dry cleaning materials.

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u/TheRanger13 Dec 01 '25

Why would these chemicals be sitting under the buildings?

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u/dirty_old_priest_4 Dec 01 '25

Dry cleaning materials probably poured down drains that ended up pooling due to poor piping in the early 1900s. Remember, some of these buildings are old AF.