United Nations: Environmental Racism in ‘Cancer Alley’ Must End

GENEVA  – United Nations human rights experts have raised concerns about further industrialization of the corridor along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. 

“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 UN observers wrote in a March 3 communique.

The report from the UN’s special rapporteur on contemporary racism and other officials said that federal environmental regulations have failed to protect people residing in the area. The Formosa Plastics project, approved in 2018 by the St. James Parish Council, and two new methanol complexes were cited as examples of the problem.

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UN experts say the Formosa Plastics’ petrochemical complex alone will more than double the cancer risks in St. James Parish according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

They say the construction of the new petrochemical complexes will exacerbate the environmental pollution and the disproportionate adverse effect on the rights to life, to an adequate standard of living and the right to health of African American communities.

“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.”

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Greg Bowser, president and CEO of the Louisiana Chemical Association, issued a statement in response to the report:

“Louisiana faces many health challenges as a state, including higher cancer incidence compared to the rest of the country,” he wrote. “But it isn’t related to industrial activity. In fact, according to the Louisiana Tumor Registry – a statewide registry of cancer incidences administered by LSU’s School of Public Health – rates of cancer in the industrial corridor on the whole are even with or below those in the rest of the state. The science is clear: the Cancer Alley moniker is unwarranted.

“We whole-heartedly disagree with the statement put forth by the UN human rights experts. We have seen no science or evidence of a preconceived decision by manufacturers to place chemical plants in areas based on the racial demographics of the region. We do not know if this group found evidence of such actions, and if they did, the statement they released does not share that information with the general public.”

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