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Article: Living with cancer.(excerpt from 'Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment')(includes related article on chemicals and cancer incident statistics)
- Article from:
- Earth Island Journal
- Article date:
- March 22, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Earth Island Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In the summer between my sophomore and junior years in college, I was diagnosed with a type of bladder cancer called transitional cell carcinoma. It is something I have in common with at least one beluga whale in the St. Lawrence River.
The St. Lawrence slants through the Canadian province of Quebec and flares open like a trumpet as it pours itself into the North Atlantic. The neck of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is one of the world's deepest, longest estuaries. About 500 belua whales, a remnant of the thousands that once lived here, inhabit this transition zone between river and ocean.
Belugas are small, toothed whales. Their skin is pure white. ...