Cancer Alley Louisiana, known in the ’80s as “Chemical Corridor,” is an 85 mile-long stretch of petroleum chemical plants along the Mississippi River. The region, located in Southeastern Louisiana, stretches from New Orleans to Baton Rouge and has a population of about 45,000 residents. Cancer Alley Louisiana is the greatest hotspot for cancer cases in the United States and the residents need change.
Lung cancer is common within industries that produce iron/steel, rubber, paint, aluminum, and other chemicals. Workers and residents breathe in the harmful chemicals emitted by the factories when they burn fuel, use chemicals, or simply release dust and microscopic debris into the air. Air pollution can cause lung cancer because, when inhaled, toxic dust or gas goes directly to the lungs. The Lung Cancer in Cancer Alley workers and residents is high. Industries pollute the air with an above-average amount of chemicals.
Cancer Alley is located in Southeastern Louisiana and stretches from
New Orleans to Baton Rouge. So, what Do I Do If I Live in Cancer Alley?
It is easy to assume that help can only come from higher-up officials.
However, legal action can be taken against these industries and plants
which contribute to the harmful living conditions of Cancer Alley in Louisiana.
Let a specialists give you a Cancer Alley case evaluation while funds are available.
Pollutants In Cancer Alley Air
From 2009 to 2016 air pollution decreased by 25% in Cancer Alley.
However, over the two years, air pollution increased by 5.5%.
About 50 toxic chemicals pollute the air along the industrial stretch from New Orleans
to Baton Rouge. Among these are benzene, formaldehyde, ethylene oxide, and the most concerning, chloroprene which are still used in several industries today.
Formaldehyde Exposure Effects
Formaldehyde is a chemical with a strong smell. It is mainly present in industries
that produce building materials and other household products like insulation, plywood, fiberglass, or fabrics. Cancer Alley residents may develop rare cancer cases of the sinuses due to inhalation.
Ethylene Oxide Dangers
Ethylene Oxide is a colorless gas that emits a sweet odor. It is used to make
household cleaners and detergents. Findings by the EPA show that Ethylene Oxide is a more dangerous carcinogen than they once believed. This chemical in Cancer Alley may most likely lead to lymphoma and leukemia.
Chloroprene Cancer RiskChloroprene is a carcinogen used to produce neoprene, a synthetic rubber. Its use is popular in the area as in 2015, Denka Performance Elastomer bought a stretch of Cancer Alley. Findings by the EPA also show that an above-average amount of chloroprene polluted the Louisiana air in 2011. After these findings, emission
of the chloroprene chemical reduced by 85%.
Symptoms Of Lung Cancer In Cancer Alley Louisiana
In 2018, the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR) released research in which they collected health data from residents within 2.5 kilometers of Cancer Alley Louisiana. The survey showed the following symptoms of lung cancer among residents.
1/3rd of participants reported that they regularly have a hard time breathing and experience wheezing. Over 40% of participants experience frequent coughing and
tend to have a hoarse/sore throat. Nearly 30% of participants reported feeling fatigue.
Environmental Impact On Cancer Alley
Not only is the air pollution from Cancer Alley a danger, but the location raises risks. Hurricanes along the Gulf Coast have already caused great damage when in contact with chemical plants around the area.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused nearly 11 million gallons of oil to spill into the water near New Orleans. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey lead to power outages which caused unrefrigerated chemicals in a local plant in Houston to decompose and eventually ignite into one big fireball. And in 2020, the effects of Hurricane Laura caused a fire at a plant that produced pool chemicals. Chlorine gas burned for three days in the fire.
Hurricane Ida in 2021 raised a huge risk to the area of Cancer Alley Louisiana.
The storm had a projected path through the industrial region.
Due to the threat of the Hurricane’s destruction, Cancer Alley
industries released unprocessed chemicals and gases into the air via “flaring.”
This process is legal in emergencies and burns the chemicals directly into the air.
After Hurricane Ida struck, residents were left with damaged homes and more
pollution in the air and water than usual.
Cancer Alley and Legal Action
Although Cancer Alley has a reputation for high percentages of pollution in the area, change is long overdue. This is why it is so important that the public remains aware
of the associated risks in Louisiana and Cancer Alley. So, what actions can the public
take to improve living conditions in this highly polluted area?
Past Actions Against Cancer Alley Pollutants
Congress developed a simplified Clean Air Act (CAA) in 1977. By 1990, congress made revisions to reduce the emission of harmful pollutants. The revisions targeted areas like Cancer Alley and Louisiana with visible smog and cancer clusters. With these edits to the CAA, Congress ensured that industries now must monitor and regulate levels of chemical emission.
Although the CAA requires the EPA and industries to monitor toxin levels in Cancer Alley, the public remains unaware of what exactly they are breathing in. Not only that, but when industries are forced to report their chemical levels to EPA, they may in fact be using flawed formulas that “estimate” rather than “calculate” an exact level.
Current Actions Against Cancer Alley Pollutants
Michael Regan, an EPA administrator, has taken progressive actions regarding
Cancer Alley pollution. Regan traveled for five days in a “Journey to Justice.”
In this trek, Regan visited areas that have high pollution rates and lack quality air.
He gained insight into the residents whose lives are affected by industry fumes in
Cancer Alley Louisiana.
Regan reassured the public that actions will be taken to improve the air quality
in Cancer Alley and other heavily polluted areas. On January 26, 2022, EPA stated
that they plan to conduct unannounced inspections of all plants in Cancer Alley.
Allegedly, Regan also announced that any industry unwilling to comply will be held accountable by him personally. In addition, the EPA spent $600,000 on mobile air pollution monitoring equipment.
Originally dubbed “Plantation Country”, Cancer Alley, which is located in the southern state of Louisiana along the lower Mississippi River where enslaved Africans were forced to labour, serves as an industrial hub, with nearly 150 oil refineries, plastics plants and chemical facilities.
The ever-widening corridor of petrochemical plants has not only polluted the
surrounding water and air, but also subjected the mostly African American residents
in St. James Parish to cancer, respiratory diseases and other health problems.
“This form of environmental racism poses serious and disproportionate threats to the enjoyment of several human rights of its largely African American residents, including
the right to equality and non-discrimination, the right to life, the right to health, right to an adequate standard of living and cultural rights”, the experts said.
Government failure
According to the experts, federal environmental regulations
have failed to protect people residing in “Cancer Alley”.
In 2018, St. James Parish Council approved the industrialization of toxic chemical development through the “Sunshine Project” – a subsidiary company of Formosa Plastics Group that would create one of the world’s largest plastics facilities – and the building of two methanol complexes by other manufacturers.
Formosa Plastics’ petrochemical complex alone will more than double the cancer risks
in St. James Parish affecting disproportionately African American residents, flagged the experts.
A Grim Prospect
According to data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Air Toxic Assessment map, the cancer risks in predominantly African American Districts in
St. James Parish could be at 104 and 105 cases per million, while those threats in predominantly white districts range from 60 to 75 per million.
The experts said that the new petrochemical complexes would exacerbate
environmental pollution and disproportionately affect African American communities’ rights to life, health, and an adequate standard of living. The combined emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per year in a single parish could exceed those of
113 countries, they said.
Cultural threat
The UN experts also sounded the alarm over possible violations of cultural rights,
as at least four ancestral burial grounds are at serious risk of being destroyed by the
planned construction.
“The African American descendants of the enslaved people who once worked the land
are today the primary victims of deadly environmental pollution that these petrochemical plants in their neighborhoods have caused”, they said.
“We call on the United States and St. James Parish to recognize and pay reparations
for the centuries of harm to Afro-descendants rooted in slavery and colonialism.”
Rays of Hope
The experts welcomed President Joe Biden’s Executive Order, signed in January,
on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis and the pledge of the US Government to listen to science, strengthen clean air and water protections, and hold polluters accountable for their actions.
While signing the Order, the President raised hopes by specifically citing Cancer Alley and commenting that “environmental justice will be at the centre of all we do when it comes to addressing the disproportionate health and environmental and economic impacts on communities of colour”.
Delivering justice
The experts called on the government to deliver environmental justice in communities all across America, starting with St James Parish, while upholding that corporations also bear responsibility and should conduct environmental and human rights impact assessments as part of the due diligence process. Click here for the names of the experts.
Independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country’s situation.
NOTE: They are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
Arsenic is a poisonous chemical element found in minerals and it is present in oil.
High levels of arsenic in seawater can enable the toxin to enter the food chain. It can disrupt the photosynthesis process in marine plants and increase the chances of genetic alterations that can cause birth defects and behavioural changes in aquatic life. It can also kill animals such as birds that feed on sea creatures affected by arsenic. In the study, a team from Imperial College London has discovered that oil spills can partially block the ocean’s natural filtration system and prevent this from cleaning arsenic out of the seawater. The researchers say their study sheds light on a new toxic threat from
the Gulf of Mexico oil leak.
Arsenic occurs naturally in the ocean,
But sediments on the seafloor filter it out of seawater, which keeps the levels of naturally occurring arsenic low. However, arsenic is also flushed into the ocean in wastewater from oil rigs and from accidental oil spills and leakages from underground oil reservoirs.
In the study, the researchers discovered that oil spills and leakages clog up sediments on the ocean floor with oil, which prevents the sediments from bonding with arsenic and burying it safely underground with subsequent layers of sediment.
The scientists say this shutdown of the natural filtration system causes arsenic levels in seawater to rise, which means that it can enter the marine ecosystem, where it becomes more concentrated and poisonous the further it moves up the food chain. The scientists say their work demonstrates how the chemistry of sediments in the Gulf of Mexico may be affected by the current oil leak.
Professor Mark Sephton, from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, says: “We can’t accurately measure how much arsenic is in the Gulf at the moment because the spill is ongoing. However, the real danger lies in arsenic’s ability to accumulate, which means that each subsequent spill raises the levels of this pollutant in seawater. Our study is a timely reminder that oil spills could create a toxic ticking time bomb, which could threaten the fabric of the marine ecosystem in the future.”
Wimolporn Wainipee, postgraduate and lead author of the study from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, adds: “We carried out our study before the leak in the Gulf of Mexico occurred, but it gives us a big insight into a potential new environmental danger in the region. Thousands of gallons of oil are leaked into the world’s oceans every year from big spills, offshore drilling and routine maintenance of rigs, which means many places may be at risk from rising arsenic levels, which could in the long run affect aquatic life, plants and the people who rely on the oceans for their livelihoods.”
For their research, the team analysed a mineral called goethite, one of the most abundant ocean sediments in the world, which is an iron bearing oxide. The team carried out experiments in the laboratory that mimicked conditions in the ocean, to see how the goethite binds to arsenic under natural conditions. They discovered that seawater alters the chemistry of goethite, where low pH levels in the water create a positive change on the surface of goethite sediments, making them attractive to the negatively charged arsenic.
However, the scientists discovered that when they added oil, this created a physical barrier, covering the goethite sediments, which prevented the arsenic in the oil from binding to them. The team also found that the oil changed the chemistry of the sediments, which weakened the attraction between the goethite and arsenic.
In the future, the researchers plan to analyze other minerals such as clays and carbonates that are sediments on the ocean floor. Sediment content varies from ocean to ocean and the researchers will analyse how oil affects their ability to bind to arsenic after a spill.
Vinyl chloride is a mutagen having clastogenic effects which affect lymphocyte chromosomal structure.
Vinyl chloride is a Group 1 human carcinogen posing elevated risks of rare angiosarcoma, brain and lung tumors, and malignant haematopoeitic lymphatic tumors.
Chronic exposure leads to common forms of respiratory failure (emphysema,
pulmonary fibrosis) and focused hepatotoxicity (hepatomegaly, hepatic fibrosis). Continuous exposure can cause CNS depression including euphoria and disorientation. Decreased male libido, miscarriage, and birth defects are known major reproductive defects associated with vinyl chloride. Vinyl chloride – Wikipedia
BONUS; Diane Sawyer Children of the Mountains – Bing video
Description
Films Media Group – A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains
In the hills of Central Appalachia, up winding, mountain roads, is a place where families face unthinkable living conditions. Isolated pockets here have three times the national poverty rate, an epidemic of drug abuse, and the shortest life span in the nation. In this program, Diane Sawyer travels to the Appalachian Mountains to report on children who live in rural poverty, and in particular, four who are determined to find a better life. For nearly two years, ABC News cameras have followed the stories of Shawn, a high school athlete who sleeps in his truck to avoid his alcoholic family; Courtney, a 12-year-old who wants nothing more than her own bed and enough to eat; Jeremy, an 18-year-old coal miner whose dream of becoming an engineer was dashed when his girlfriend became pregnant; and Erica, an 11-year-old striving to save her addicted mother’s life.
The program also includes Sawyer’s update on these four young people, and a discussion of possible solutions to poverty. (48 minutes)
I must admit I watched Diane Sawyer’s “Hidden America: Children of the Mountains” with a great deal of trepidation. Let’s face it; we’ve been down this road before. I remember Muddy Gut Hollow and WYMT’s live town hall meeting to respond following the hour long assault on our region. I remember the excitement when the Harlan Boys Choir was selected to sing at President Bush’s Inauguration only to be followed by the anger and resentment as the national media once again depicted our region as a “hell” hole. So yes, I was concerned the same stereotypical images would once again grace our nation’s airwaves, reinforcing the misconceptions and half-truths associated with one of the most beautiful places on earth, the place I am proud to call home.
Yet, I promised myself I would keep an open mind. I sat down Saturday morning and watched it in the privacy of my office. No distractions, no interruptions. Several hours later I watched it again to see if my initial thoughts remained the same. Each time I was overcome with emotion. My feelings have ranged from sadness and compassion, to embarrassment and anger. To be honest, “Hidden America: Children of the Mountains” made me mad as hell! But that anger is not directed so much at Diane Sawyer and ABC, but instead at me, my friends and my associates. What are we doing to help?
I will agree the national media tends to have an agenda which perpetuates the stereotypical views of our region. They look for the images, the people and the stories which only serve to enhance those beliefs outside our region. Yes, I wish ABC would have balanced the segment and focused on some of our successes. I’d like the rest of America to enjoy the beauty of this region, the culture, the friendliness and the people. But if we are honest, we must admit the facts of the documentary are true and sometimes the truth hurts. It’s no secret; Eastern Kentucky has a drug epidemic. Our region’s rates for cancer, diabetes, obesity and dental problems are higher than the national averages: Are we really mad at Diane Sawyer for reporting on a serious problem, or are we upset that someone is reminding us of images we would rather ignore?
Less than one week after Diane Sawyer’s “A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains” aired on 20/20 — shining a spotlight on Appalachian children living in poverty — there has been a significant outpouring of donations, and offers of help, by viewers of the program. The special, which brought 20/20 its biggest Friday night audience in more than four years, has prompted approximately $60,000 in donations so far to the nonprofit Christian Appalachian Project, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
ABC News also reports that since the show aired, one of the featured young people,
Shawn Grim, has received college scholarship offers from four schools.
In addition, Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo, has spoken with Sawyer about helping with dental care for Appalachia’s children, after the show focused on the prevalence of tooth decay from “Mountain Dew mouth” in the area.
This Friday’s 20/20 will provide an update on the families profiled in last week’s program, and will also explore the topic of combating poverty.
A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains UPDATE – How viewers helped (2009)
Watch 20/20 Season 40 Episode 33 My Reality: A Hidden America – A Diane Sawyer.
Children of the Mountains Struggle to Survive – ABC News (go.com) – Search (bing.com)
Dear Diane Sawyer: The Other Children of the Mountains | HuffPost Latest News
What Happened to the Families from FRONTLINE’s Poor Kids? (pbs.org)
Children of the Mountains Struggle to Survive – ABC News (go.com)
The Truth About ‘Mountain Dew Mouth’ (mashed.com)
‘Children of the Mountains’: Full Show – Bing video
Children of the Plains Full Documentary, 40:47min