Get your free MedServ E-mail account. For men, Delaware leads the nation in deaths from the disease in the country, with Rhode Island second and Maine third. New Hampshire ranks fifth with Vermont sixth. For women, Delaware again ranks in first place for the highest mortality rate from the disease in the nation, followed by Maryland and then Vermont.
Maine comes in sixth with New Hampshire seventh.
The ratings are based on death statistics compiled by the National Cancer Institute from 1991 to 1995. Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H., will begin a study in New Hampshire to look into drinking water sources to determine the exposure to arsenic. Maine toxicologist Andrew E. Smith told the Portland Press-Herald there's a strong link between the levels of arsenic and bladder cancer. He estimated that 10 percent of Maine's privately owned wells contain levels exceeding the federal limits of .05 milligrams per liter. The American Cancer Society says that smoking is a major risk factor.