from Hacker News

Cancer Alley

by Red_Tarsius on 1/17/24, 7:17 PM with 87 comments

  • by Red_Tarsius on 1/17/24, 8:05 PM

    I just saw this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT9mrbIxeBE and it sounded like an interesting topic to bring on HN. I didn't know about the "Cancer Alley" in Louisiana, but I figure most countries have their own alleys of death. I live in Italy and Taranto is notorious for this reason. The city was home to one of biggest steel producers in Europe. The local economy revolved around the steel plant, but people from the sorrounding neighbourhoods have suffered from abnormally high rates of cancer and respiratory illnesses for decades. After a trial which shed light on the environmental disaster, the government seized the plant in 2012. Long story short, its fate has been in a limbo since then.

  • by tschwimmer on 1/17/24, 9:36 PM

    Somewhat related, True Detective season 1 is set in this area. Reading this article made me realize that the the cinematography is very effective in using the pollution as a metaphor for social decay. Some stills:

    https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/3FleEbfQmPxX0b0pXp--7OF3...

    https://gerryco23.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/true-detective...

  • by saluki on 1/17/24, 9:14 PM

    One of my friends were in St. Judes in Memphis for cancer treatment. I was there visiting multiple times and would talk to lots of other families whose children were getting treatment and I was stunned by the large percentage who were from New Orleans or Baton Rouge and many with fathers who mentioned they worked at a chemical plant. My friend had stage IV cancer, St. Judes did an amazing job they are still in remission after this initial treatment in the 1990s.

  • by cmpb on 1/17/24, 10:59 PM

    Strange seeing not just my state, but my hometown, rising on HN. Sad, too.

    Related: For those interested in point-and-click / text-based games, check out the game NORCO, which is about the city Norco (named for the refinery that graces its skyline), a suburb of New Orleans. It's actually an extremely accurate representation of the socioeconomics of the area (which is painful to admit), and has some truly gorgeous pixel art.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norco_(video_game)

  • by somethoughts on 1/17/24, 9:27 PM

    I found this insightful:

    Why Louisiana Stays Poor

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWTic9btP38

    Definitely sounds very similar to CPG's "Rules for Ruler" video where he provides a description of rulers ruling in resource rich countries.

  • by refurb on 1/18/24, 4:07 AM

    While an interesting read, where is the data? You even look at the sources on the wikipedia page and it says [citation needed].

    Cancer isn't evenly distributed across the countries (i.e. every city of 1M has 100 colon cancer cases), and clustering would be expected even from random distribution. Then layer on top things like genetic makeup of the population, smoking rates, diet, etc, etc, etc and you end up in a situation where confounding factors can make it really hard to tease out causes, especially if the effect is small in size.

    I'm not saying there aren't higher rates of cancer in this area or that industrial pollution can't contribute to cancer rates, but this wikipedia article seems like nothing but a bunch of talk.

  • by dogman144 on 1/18/24, 1:25 AM

    Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild.

    Good book on the topic, specifically around why it continues.

  • by UniverseHacker on 1/17/24, 11:05 PM

    California has its own version of this in the north east Bay Area- with a high density of refineries blowing directly downwind into dense poor communities. Chevron owns and pays for the local newspaper covering that area, which spreads misinformation about the health risks to the community.

    It amazes me you have this dense urban area with ultra strict vehicle emissions rules, where low income people struggle to get their cars to pass, and yet you have these refineries down the street flaring regularly and sending up massive plumes of black soot.

  • by selimthegrim on 1/19/24, 9:29 PM

  • by lazyant on 1/18/24, 1:11 AM

    Reminds me of the “discovery of hunger” in 1967 when Robert F. Kennedy visited the Mississippi Delta https://www.processhistory.org/green-hunger-health/

  • by croisillon on 1/17/24, 7:53 PM

    20% of the article have been removed on September 6th

  • by iambateman on 1/17/24, 7:54 PM

    > Louisiana Chemical Association President Greg Bowser responded to President Biden's remarks on the region, refuting claims that residents of the industrial corridor have a higher risk of developing cancer in multiple articles.

    I don't doubt his sincerity...but this illustrates how far people are willing to go to keep power. It is sad to think that a person would ignore evidence that their business kills people to protect profit. This is why we need strong regulatory bodies.

  • by Khelavaster on 1/18/24, 7:34 AM

    Biden's former director of Public Engagement, Cedric Richmond, was the congressman from Cancer Alley's district, and a direct senior advisor to Biden.

  • by jklinger410 on 1/17/24, 9:47 PM

    deleted

  • by ChrisMarshallNY on 1/17/24, 7:44 PM

    Long Island (where I live), is likely just as bad, but probably from the water (as opposed to the air).

    But we have a lot of billionaires, and developers, with significant investment in local real estate.

    I'm sure that has nothing to do with how quiet things are, about it.

  • by ipnon on 1/17/24, 10:09 PM

    In the spirit of hacking, can this be moved to orbit? What would make the economics work out? What would be the environmental effects?

  • by max_ on 1/17/24, 8:53 PM

    As humans our days on this planet are numbered.

    It surprises me how we are all sleep walking to extinction and "the masses" truly don't give a damn?

  • by poulpy123 on 1/17/24, 8:01 PM

    I'm confused to why there is also a french name. I get that it was french at one point but it was 200 years ago, and afaik very little people in the area still speak french