Before the little boy was diagnosed with cancer, he and his mom used to call the industrial plant that hummed outside their wooden house “the Cloud Maker.” That was back before doctors said Valentin Marroquin had acute lymphocytic leukemia, and before another little boy who lived over on Avenue P got cancer, too. Valentin’s mom, who has lived her whole life in the Manchester neighborhood, a cluster of aging wooden homes hemmed in by the Houston Ship Channel and a network of rail lines, started staring at the plant, fearing it. And she came to hate the Cloud Maker. Rosario Marroquin may never know if polluted air caused her 9-year-old son’s illness. But a study released Thursday bolstered her suspicions. The 18-month study by the University of Texas School of Public Health identified for the first time a possible link between cancer risks and hazardous air pollutants being emitted in Harris County. The study said children living within two miles of the Ship Channel had a 56 percent higher risk of contracting acute lymphocytic leukemia than children living more than 10 miles from the channel.
If you’ve ever spent any time in Houston’s East End, particularly the Manchester neighborhood, you know what a dirty, miserable, thoroughly industrialized place it is. Residents, primarily lower middle-class Hispanic families, live cheek to jowl with chemical plants that spew thousands of tons of God-only-knows-what into the air. I’ve spent a lot of time in parts of the Houston metropolitan area like the East End, and even though the neighborhoods are different, they all tend to feel as if they’re next door to Hell on Earth.
In the case of Manchester, I’ve read of cases of where monitors from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) have warn full hazmat suits during their time in the neighborhood. Given what Manchester sits next to, that’s not an overreaction. Imagine, if you will, that there are families who live next to these mammoth plants daily, without the benefits of hazmat suits or any other sort of protection. Then again, these are poor and largely voiceless minority families we’re talking about here, and it’s not as if these plants sit next door to River Oaks, home of the wealthy, privilege, and White.
The study also said children who were living in areas with increased emissions of 1,3-butadiene from the petrochemical plants were found to have an increased risk of developing any type of leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia.
This preliminary epidemiologic investigation, which was funded by Houston’s health department and the Centers for Disease Control, found an “association” but was not detailed enough to prove pollutants actually caused these illnesses, said Ann Coker, one of the primary investigators.
The concern about industrial emissions near the Ship Channel isn’t confined just to Manchester. At a Cesar Chavez High School PTA meeting on Thursday night, teachers were planning an organized effort to get the level of airborne toxins reduced near the channel. Patricia Peacock, an American history teacher, plans to have her students write letters, and if they don’t get answers, she’s considering protests.
Using $30,000 in grants, the University of Texas study examined data from the Texas Cancer Registry of reported cases of leukemia and lymphoma in both Harris County adults and children from 1995 to 2003. It also examined emissions of 1,3-butadiene and benzene recorded since 1992 at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality monitoring sites in Harris County.
I can’t help but imagine the weeping and gnashing of teeth that would be occurring if this sort of thing was happening in communities of rich, well-off White Folks. To his credit, Houston Mayor Bill White has been active in trying to force chemical plants in Houston to reduce emissions. His is one of the few well-placed voices speaking out on behalf of the well-being of those families whose health and well-being are too often held hostage by chemical plants and refineries in the making of making a profit.
I understand the economic benefits that these plants bring to the Houston area. It should go without saying, though, that profit and health are not (and should not be) mutually exclusive. Chemical plants and refineries need to be more focused on being good neighbors to the families who live nearby- many because they can’t afford to live anywhere else. If they cannot see their way clear to doing so willingly, then they should be forced to do so. Bill White’s efforts are certainly a step in the right direction, but how many children have to be diagnosed with, and die from, leukemia before the threat is taken seriously?
This study should be seen for the warning bell that it is. Children are dying because of the unfortunate reality that they’re living next door to chemical plants…not that it should have taken a $30,000 study to figure this out. That these children are Brown People makes their lives no less valuable nor their plight less desperate and worthy of attention. How many children have to die before politicians and businesses sit up and take notice? Or is leukemia in the children of Brown People just a cost of doing business?
