Newborns living in Louisiana’s most heavily polluted areas, including an 80-mile industrial corridor known as “Cancer Alley,” experience low birth weights of more than three times the national average, according to data cited in a report released on Thursday. The rate of premature births there is also twice as high as the national average, researchers found.
In parts of Louisiana near fossil fuel and petrochemical plants, low birth weight was 27% and preterm birth rate was 25%, according to research from Tulane University published Thursday in a Human Rights Watch report. The full article linking pollution and reproductive health is currently being peer-reviewed for publication in the log Environmental research: health.
“The level of human health crisis is identifiable and preventable,” said Antonia Juhasz, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch and lead author of the report. Juhasz interviewed dozens of residents of Louisiana’s petrochemical region known as Cancer Alley, a stretch of predominantly black communities between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that is home to more than 200 petrochemical plants. The region has one of the highest cancer rates due to pollution in the country.
Residents interviewed for the report described a range of conditions, including breast, prostate and liver cancer, alongside several stories of reproductive problems, including premature birth, miscarriage and stillbirth.
The region’s high cancer rates are well documented, but experts said new information about birth outcomes was alarming.
“When you add up all the pollution, you can see the most extreme (health) consequences,” said Kimberly Terrell, director of community engagement at Tulane’s Environmental Law Clinic and one of the authors of the upcoming report. “Cancer Alley is a place where these consequences cannot be ignored.”
Low birth weight and premature birth can cause several long-term health problems, including respiratory diseases asthmabut also in behavioral and cognitive areas issues.
Shamell Lavigne was born and raised in St James Parish, halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. She struggled with infertility and when she finally got pregnant in 2014, she suffered a miscarriage.
“When I discovered that there was a link between reproductive health and pollution in Cancer Alley, I knew it was important to share what was happening to me and (talk about) the impact the industry has on Black women,” said Lavigne. Nationally, Black Americans are more likely to live in areas with high levels of air pollution and generally suffer worse pregnancy And birth outcomesincluding miscarriage, premature birth and low birth weight.
Lavigne now has a nine-year-old daughter who passes an ExxonMobil factory every day on her way to school.
“In St. James, she’s surrounded by chemical plants, and even at school she’s close to them,” Lavigne said. “It’s almost like you can’t escape it.” The neighboring parish of St. John the Baptist is near cancer risk seven times the national average.
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The report comes as local and federal officials weigh the future of the region’s fossil fuel and petrochemical industries. Wednesday has the New York Times reported that the Biden administration paused approval of Calcasieu Pass 2, a proposed massive gas terminal that residents and experts said would contribute to the region’s public health problems. The news comes days after a Louisiana court upheld an approval air permits for Formosa Plastics, which would produce the largest petrochemical complexes of its kind in the US. That decision was a major blow to environmentalists and rights groups, who advocate for the removal of existing fossil fuel plants and a moratorium on new ones.
Such measures could provide quick relief to local residents, experts say. In the Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco, California, researchers found that the rate of premature births dropped by as much as 25% in the year after the 2006 birth. closure of a coal-fired power station.
“That’s a very strong argument for moving coal-fired power plants away from residents,” said Nathaniel DeNicola, a gynecologist specialist who co-authored a 2020 report. report the link between exposure to air pollution and preterm birth. “This suggests that you can protect communities to some extent by staying far away from the concentrated toxic source.”
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This article was amended on January 25, 2024 to clarify that it was Antonia Juhasz, and not her colleagues, who conducted interviews with Cancer Alley residents.