- A new Human Rights Watch report highlights health hazards other than cancer affecting residents of Cancer Alley.
- Cancer Alley is a 135-mile stretch of land along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that is home to approximately 200 petrochemical plants and refineries.
- People living in these parts of Louisiana have been complaining about harmful toxins for decades.
Human Rights Watch research shows that pregnant women living in parts of Louisiana's “Cancer Alley” are far more likely to give birth prematurely and give birth to low-birth-weight babies than women living outside the state. report Published on Thursday.
The study, part of a study currently under peer review, claims that people living in Louisiana's most polluted areas have a 25.3 percent preterm birth rate, nearly twice the state average. . 13.5 percent.
This number is about 2.5 times the US average. 10.4%according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
These air-polluted areas include much of the 135-mile stretch of land along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that is home to 200 petrochemical plants and refineries.
After cancer clusters began occurring in the 1980s, the area earned the nickname “Cancer Alley.”
In addition, the study also found that babies born in Louisiana's most polluted areas had a 27 percent low birth weight rate.
That rate is more than double the state average. 11.3% That's more than three times the national average 8.5 percent, According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Our study reveals that pollution brings more than cancer to Louisiana. It puts babies at risk for low birth weight and premature birth,” said Kimberly, one of the study authors. Terrell told The Hill.
“Louisiana residents identified industrial pollution as the cause of reproductive problems in the 1980s. Science has finally caught up.”
According to the CDC, premature birth and low birth weight are the second leading cause of infant death in the United States.
However, this condition can also cause health problems later in life.
Some studies suggest that low birth weight babies are more likely to develop insulin resistance increased risk of developing Diabeteshypertension, and Heart disease.
Human Rights Watch members interviewed 37 Cancer Alley residents for this report, several of whom had premature or low birth weight babies.
Ashley Gaignard, 46, of Cancer Alley in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, told Human Rights Watch that all three of her children were born with low birth weight.
Her son Jason was born prematurely and at a low birth weight, with underdeveloped lungs, the report said.
Because of these symptoms, Jason has battled severe asthma his entire life.
“By the time he was in second grade at Donaldsonville Elementary School, he had frequent severe asthma attacks that limited his recess time and required him to be taken by ambulance to the hospital,” the report states. “Hospital visits continued until sixth grade. He still has to manage his asthma with nebulizer treatments and a pump.”
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