Toxic tensions in the Heart of Cancer Alley

[Stuart G]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/20/health/louisiana-toxic-town/index.html

The EPA says this town has the nation's highest risk of developing cancer from air toxins. The plant emitting the toxins says otherwise. Locals are outraged.

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LaPlace, Louisiana (CNN) — Geraldine Watkins sits at the kitchen table in her ranch home, rattling off the names of friends and relatives in her small Louisiana town who've died of cancer over the last 40 years.

Her grandchildren suffer an array of ailments, from skin conditions to breathing problems. Her 7-year-old great-grandson's breathing is so labored, she says, "you can feel his heart trying to jump out of his chest."

Watkins lives in the shadow of a plant that spews chloroprene -- a chemical so toxic the Environmental Protection Agency says nearby residents face the highest risk in the country of developing cancer from air toxins.

"You gotta live here to try to breathe the air, drink the water, see the children so sick and watch people die," Watkins says. "Industry is wonderful to have, but if it's killing the people in the area that they live in, what good is industry?"

[locks]

1. Louisiana, like Texas

and all the gulf states sold their souls and many of their citizens for the money from oil and chemicals. We've never stopped and will never stop until our wonderful planet is completely destroyed.