In the US state of Louisiana, there is an area called "Cancer Valley", which is roughly located between Baton Rouge, the capital city of Louisiana, and New Orleans.
In March this year, the human rights expert group appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council issued a report expressing serious concerns about the continued industrial development of the region and claiming that there is environmental racism in the area.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an Air Toxicity Report, and the cancer rate among local residents is much higher than the average in the United States.
The report shows that in most areas of the United States, if residents are exposed to the same level of pollution, 1 to 47 people per million will suffer from cancer.
However, in the area with the highest cancer rate in the "Cancer Valley", the average number of people suffering from cancer per million people is more than 700, and the highest point is even 826 people.
In other words, the cancer rate in some communities is more than 700 times the average in the United States.
What makes the outside world more puzzling is that most of the residents of "Cancer Valley" are African Americans.
What is it that causes local people to suffer from cancer frequently, and what is the relationship between skin color and cancer?
A community shrouded in death
In the Reesef community on the Mississippi River, almost every family has family members and relatives who have died of cancer.
Locals once attributed the cancer to age growth or the teasing of fate. Until 2015, the US Environmental Protection Agency's investigation report showed that the chloroprene in the air in the area had been exceeding the standard for a long time.
Chloroprene is a carcinogenic substance. It is mainly used in the production of neoprene. It is a material for products such as diving suits and insulation cup covers. At present, the only chemical plant that produces neoprene in the United States is next to Reesef. build.
This chemical plant is one of the earliest sources of pollution in the "Cancer Valley". It was established and operated by DuPont of the United States in 1968. It did not resell its business to Nippon Electrochemical until November 2015, but retained the ownership of the land.
Mary Hampton, a resident of the Reesef community in St. John’s County:
We suffer from cancer and other respiratory diseases because we breathe this air every day.
In the 1970s, we didn't know exactly what this factory produced, but we began to smell a peculiar smell.
I knew that DuPont produced paint, thinking it was their subsidiary.
The health department stated that only when the concentration of chloroprene in the air is less than 0.2 milligrams per cubic meter can a person live for 70 years without cancer.
In the past five years, the concentration of Reesef's chloroprene has never been lower than this target.
Nippon Denka does not accept this safety value.
In a public statement issued in March 2021, they claimed that the existing safety assessment model of the US Environmental Protection Agency severely exaggerated the carcinogenic risk of chloroprene.
However, according to an exposed internal email, DuPont made the decision to resell the chemical plant in 2011 because it was worried that reducing the emissions of the carcinogenic chloroprene would cause great economic losses.
Under the cover of night, the night cannot hide the billowing white smoke.
CCTV reporter Liu Xiaoqian:
According to a report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at the end of 2015, this chemical plant of DuPont/Nippon Denka made this area one of the regions with the highest rates of carcinogenesis and cancer mortality in the United States. However, the plant has always denied pollution and pollution. Carcinogenic association.
However, according to DuPont’s own technical manual in the 1950s, once chloroprene enters the human body, it may cause fatal injuries.
Sewage "free" chemical plants bloom everywhere
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s air testing data in St. John’s County, where the Reesef community is located, from 2016 to 2019, the concentration of chloroprene in the air in St. John’s County was higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s safe value in 2017. In the second half of the year, it even reached 24 mg per cubic meter, which was 120 times the safe value.
However, the reality that a large number of residents suffer from cancer has not prevented the development of local chemical plants.
In the "Cancer Valley" area, there are more than 300 chemical plants.
Driving along Highway 18 on the south bank of the Mississippi River, the "steel forest" can be seen everywhere.
In St. James on the south bank of the Mississippi, chemical companies continue to expand.
According to a report by a UN human rights expert, this county, which covers an area of only 670 square kilometers, may emit more than 113 countries in the world in terms of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
Chasity was born and raised in St. James and gave birth to the next generation, but the familiar homeland has become very strange.
When I came out of Chasity’s house, all I saw along the way were factories and some equipment built for them.
Chasity White, the initiator of the environmental protection organization "Rise of St. James":
Originally, these equipment did not exist. After the establishment of chemical plants here, all of them suddenly appeared. These pipelines were specially built for chemical plants.
We found that schools are the preferred land acquisition targets for chemical plants, because the large area of land purchased in a single purchase, coupled with the tight budget of local schools, makes it easier to reach a sale agreement.
Residential communities need to be annexed one by one, thus forming some special topography.
This long and narrow block is called the "sandwich block" locally because there are very large chemical plants on both sides of it.
It is equivalent to saying that no matter which direction the wind blows, residents living in the "sandwich" neighborhood will be affected by air pollution.
Dorsey, a resident of St. James County, said that life is very good and everything is fine.
However, when the camera moved away, they confessed that life was difficult and many family members were diagnosed with cancer.
He didn't want to speak up in front of the camera, because he was worried about retaliation from the chemical plant.
In January 2020, the Louisiana Environmental Protection Agency approved Taiwan Plastics Industry Co., Ltd.'s plan in St. James's chemical park to build 14 independent plastic factories.
According to the assessment of the United Nations Human Rights Expert Group, this project will more than triple the risk of cancer for residents of St. James.
Sharon Lavigne, founder of the environmental protection organization "Rise of St. James":
Our government officials did not consult the local residents and approved the decision to let the chemical plant in, saying that it could create jobs, but it brought murder, disease and death. .
Under the strong resistance of non-governmental environmental groups, Louisiana announced in September 2020 that it would review the chemical projects of Formosa Plastics Corporation.
However, in the "Cancer Valley" where chemical plants are blooming, companies that have obtained emission permits have not slowed down their pace of expansion.
Is it just a coincidence that chemical factories replaced slave plantations?
In the history of the United States, the plantation economy used to be the backbone of Louisiana's economy. Especially in the late 18th century, local plantations increased their investment in sugarcane planting and introduced a large number of black slaves from all over the United States.
When we compare the distribution map of plantations back then with the distribution map of chemical plants today, we will find that the two are surprisingly similar.
Is this a coincidence, or is there a little-known connection?
The Whitney Plantation Museum, built in 1752, is located in the center of the "Cancer Valley".
It was originally a plantation of indigo and rice, and began to grow sugar cane in the 18th century.
Under the influence of film and television works, the Southern Plantation was given a romantic imagination and became a popular place for American wedding gatherings.
However, the Whitney Plantation is the only plantation site in Louisiana with the theme of rethinking slavery.
The plantation economy has reshaped the natural landscape along the coast and also determined the ethnic composition of the "Cancer Valley".
Ashley Roger, curator of the Whitney Plantation Museum: People
living near the site of the plantation today have their elders as tenant farmers on the plantation in the 20th century, and most of their ancestors were slaves on the plantation.
Although the economic model with black slaves as the labor force has withdrawn from the stage of history, the thinking bias behind it is difficult to remove from the subconsciousness of American society.
Do the residents of "Cancer Valley" see themselves in the fate of their ancestors?
Sharon Lavigne, founder of the environmental organization "Rising Saint James":
In the "Cancer Valley", we are slaves to the chemical industry. The chemical industry controls this area, and local government officials leave it alone.
This industry poisons us. Although it is not like someone beat us with whips as before, it poisons our body.
If it is not stopped, we will eventually be poisoned to death.
Although slavery was abolished long ago, it continues to exist in another form.
Even the Whitney Plantation cannot escape the entanglement of industrialization.
As early as 1990, it was purchased by a chemical company to prepare for the construction of a rayon factory, but it escaped because of the decline in the market.
However, in March 2021, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Protection approved a project to build a large barn tower around it.
Perhaps this remnant evidence of slavery will soon change its appearance.
The "taste" of progress is difficult to break the vicious circle
In the impression of the outside world, the United States has extremely strict environmental protection laws and regulations, and has specific guidelines for plant site selection and pollution discharge.
However, why in the "Cancer Valley", chemical plants can ignore the federal government's regulations and wantonly discharge pollutants?
Even if cancer is rampant, the local residents are helpless?
Is there a double standard in this?
The chemical industry in Louisiana began in the 1960s, when Governor John McKayson lobbied all over the United States to attract investment. His slogan was "Let the taste of progress fill the air."
CCTV reporter Liu Xiaoqian:
As soon as I opened the car window, I could smell very strong chemicals in the air, which was very pungent.
Times have changed and governments have changed, but the determination of Louisiana to foster the chemical industry remains the same.
In 2018, the state launched a new industrial tax exemption program. If a company builds a new factory in the local area, it can be exempt from real estate tax for 10 years.
This makes more chemical companies rush.
Mary Hampton, a resident of the Reesef community in St. John’s County: The
Louisiana Environmental Quality Agency should have ensured the safe operation of chemical plants, and the US Environmental Protection Agency should protect us, but they did not.
Why did so many evaluations but no actual action?
I don't think they care about us at all.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considered one of the most authoritative environmental protection agencies in the world. However, each state has an environmental management agency that is not responsible to the federal government.
Ashley Roger
,
curator of the Whitney Plantation Museum: The
state government prefers heavy industry but relaxes taxation. It has not done anything to ensure the safety of residents. It does not have sufficient environmental protection laws and regulations for chemical plants.
In this situation, the EPA's regulations are in vain.
At the same time, large companies have sufficient funds to hire legal teams and research institutions to endorse them.
The Louisiana Chemical Industry Association publicly criticized the existence of "Cancer Valley" as a lie.
The chemical industry creates about 80 billion U.S. dollars in output value for Louisiana every year. However, it is difficult for us to detect signs of prosperity in the local livelihood.
In the core area of the "Cancer Valley", there is not even a medical institution that specializes in cancer treatment.
Joey Banner, a researcher at the Whitney Plantation Museum:
Economic development is an excuse to build a chemical plant here, but it does not bring any benefits to African-American residents. Many jobs are not for locals, and many jobs are very difficult. Dangerous, this is equivalent to the reproduction and continuation of the plantation model in 2021.
While chemical factories violated the health rights of African-American residents, they also tried to erase their cultural rights.
The United Nations report shows that at least four cemeteries in St. James where African slaves are buried may be at risk of being destroyed due to the construction of factories.
CCTV reporter Liu Xiaoqian: The
above-ground graves are a special landscape in southern Louisiana. There are cultural factors in it, but the main reason is that this area is below sea level. Many long-standing cemeteries where black slaves are buried may be able to escape The erosion of water cannot avoid the pressing and encirclement of chemical plants.
Slaves from other villages who came across the ocean came to settle here, and descendants who were tortured by cancer rested here.
In this land adjacent to death, the vicious circle is like an invisible shackle, which is difficult to break.
The experience of "Cancer Valley" is just a microcosm
In Resef, the chemical factory that produces diving suit materials is close at hand, but the reporter found that there is no swimming pool in the area, and the water of the Mississippi River is even more polluted.
According to a research report in the American scientific journal Science Advances in April 2021, in the United States, people of color are more susceptible to air pollution from industry, vehicles, buildings, and many other aspects than whites, and African Americans are the only ones A group that is disproportionately exposed to various pollution sources. The experience of "Cancer Valley" is just a microcosm. (CCTV reporter Liu Xiaoqian, Xiong Xiaochen, Xi Yu, Feng Ping, Hao Chenxi, Yang Kun, Shi Yue)