Denka-area cancer study to start soon; Louisiana health officials lay out blueprint

[TexasTowelie]

State health officials plan to knock on every door within 2.5 kilometers of the controversial Denka Performance Elastomer plant in St. John the Baptist Parish in hopes of determining exactly how many people in the neighborhood have developed cancer.

Neighbors say the inquiry, first announced in late August, is long overdue.

The Denka plant is the only one in the country that emits chloroprene, which was classified as a likely carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2010.

The plant is in the heart of Louisiana's industrial corridor, which already has some of the most toxic air pollution in the nation, and where a wave of new petrochemical plants is expected to worsen air quality in already overburdened areas, according to an analysis by ProPublica, The Times-Picayune and The Advocate.

Read more: https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_747d63a2-0d6e-11ea-8331-8b19b89cd3c9.html

[eyeofnewt]

1. DenkaDuPont

I see from the article that DuPont was a former owner of the plant in Louisiana. As a reminder, the movie Dark Waters is set for national release on Dec. 6 about the West Virginia DuPont plant’s contamination of the ground water and the lawyer who fought the battle- played by Mark Ruffalo, so how can you go wrong? 😀
If you haven’t seen the investigative documentary The Devil We Know about the same issue, it’s well worth watching on Netflix to see the astounding purpose with which the citizens rally to get an investigation started and keep it going. Plus it provides some background info that may not be in the movie since one seems to focus on the town and it’s people and the other the lawyer.
I very seldom post, daily reader though, but I grew up in the shadow of a DuPont plant and have relatives who worked there.
Happy Monday all 👋