Mark L. Witten and Paul R. Sheppard
Background: Dendrochemistry, the measurement of element concentrations in tree rings to screen temporal changes in chemical environments, was used to study an area in south‐central, North Carolina, USA, that has experienced a higher-than-expected incidence of a couple of illnesses including thyroid cancer.
Methods: We analyzed metal concentrations in tree rings of loblolly pine trees in the area in decadal segments of tree rings and three excised thyroid cancer tissues from three women afflicted with the disease.
Results: ICP‐MS analyses showed a vastly different metal profile in the cancer thyroid tissue compared to normal thyroid tissue as well as increased thorium concentrations in the thyroid cancer tissues and in the most recent decade (the 2010s) of four tree’s rings that were significantly higher than in the previous decades.