Alabama, specifically northern Alabama, has been an area of America plagued by epidemic numbers of kidney disease and for years the reason has baffled local citizens. A new research study will seek to uncover the reasons behind the chronic waves of kidney disease sufferers which seem to be concentrated in the area.

Unsurprisingly, environmental pollutants have been thought to play a role, but the specifics of which toxins remain unclear. This is the motive behind the study, which intends to examine participants, all of which have kidney disease, and find out which chemicals could possibly be to blame. The consensus thus far has been that pollutants deposited into the drinking water supply of Northern Alabama, the Tennessee River, have not been successfully filtered out before reaching residential areas and this has subsequently led to higher than normal averages of chronic kidney disease.

As the research study gets a clearer picture of what root causes lie behind the higher CKD incidences, more can be done to successfully carry out their treatment. Additionally, establishing a direct link may be enough to have the Wheeler Basin declared a Superfund site, which would enable the federal government to intensify clean-up efforts and hopefully mitigate further pollution.