ERIONITE AND MESOTHELIOMA: ORIGINAL "OLD" TUZKOY VS RELOCATED "NEW" TUZKOY VILLAGE, CAPPADOCIA, TURKEY

Erionite is known to cause mesothelioma, both pleural and peritoneal. Mesothelioma is a rare but deadly disease; however it takes a very long time to develop. Research has been continuing in several villages in Cappadocia, Turkey since the first mesothelioma case was found there in late 1975. Rocks of the area near Tuzkoy, one of the villages in Cappadocia with over 50 % mesothelioma history, have both erionite-K and erionite-Na (Dogan et al. 2006, Cancer Research, 66:5063-5068). Because of the extremely high rate of mesothelioma associated with erionite, attempts were made to relocate the village. In late 1990, a number of new houses were constructed at a nearby place and some villagers moved to their new houses. However, they carried out some of the building materials from their “old” houses to use in their new houses (i.e., as garden walls, etc.). More recently, the village was again relocated to a new place, in close proximity to the original “old” Tuzkoy. This time, almost the entire village has been moved to the new buildings in “new” Tuzkoy. In this case, carrying construction materials from the “old” Tuzkoy, which would be contaminated with erionite, was prohibited. However, the “new” location has not been thoroughly examined concerning its erionite contents. Over the past decade, due to recent publications of erionite-mesothelioma, awareness of erionite has been increasing and consequently erionite has been identified in other places in the world including the USA (i.e., North Dakota, South Dakota), Mexico, and some parts of Europe. Time will show whether a relationship exists between erionite and mesothelioma in these places. Tuzkoy village in Turkey with its unusually high rate of mesothelioma is an important case to study. Planned relocations of villages in such situations should take into account erionite exposure risks from transported building materials and other local sources.