Brain-cancer cluster tied to shuttered Philadelphia ammo plant puzzles investigators
Four people developed glioblastoma, including three longtime Philadelphia narcotics officers; all died within years of each other. Their shared thread appears to be years spent in the narcotics unit and a possible link to the shuttered Frankford Arsenal site in Philadelphia (closed in the 1970s and now housing a high school and other businesses). Investigators are examining whether environmental exposures at the former Army ammunition plant could explain the rare cancer cluster.