Cancer Alley? Emerging Science & Decades of Air Pollution in La.

Please join the New Orleans Group of the Sierra Club and speaker Dr. Kimberly Terrell about her recent research.

In 2024, a team of scientists led by Dr. Kimberly Terrell released the 1st peer-reviewed research on how pollution exposure influences birth outcomes in La. Her study suggested that toxic air pollution is a major driver of the exceptionally high rates of low birthweight and preterm births in La. Terrell said the challenge faced by community groups in advocating for best steps to improve environmental safety is partly related to the lack of scientifically valid studies that have been conducted in La. While there are hundreds of studies connecting pollution exposure with adverse birth outcomes – especially in California and Texas – La has conducted only one such study.
“There’s one, peer-reviewed study linking or even evaluating pollution relative to human birth outcomes,” Terrell said. “This lack of research is being weaponized against communities like St. James & St. John because we hear over and over, ‘Hey, there’s no evidence to support what the community is saying.’ A lack of research always results in a lack of evidence.” It’s important that we get the word out about all the many different challenges there are in dealing with people living close to petrochemical companies and try to begin a conversation somewhere. We need to talk to the people who are sick, the families who are being affected, and try to come up with whatever the answer is. Even if industry is just part of the answer, we need to make sure they’re not adding to the problem. There’s a host of other reasons. It’s a very complicated issue.

Tom Costanza, executive director of the La Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the focus was not to cast blame but to find faith-filled solutions to environmental problems. “We’re trying to bring the industry and the community together to have these dialogues based on science. We need to begin the conversation.”
Doors open at 6:30, program at 7pm, with time for questions.
On the WEB: catholicclimatecovenant.org
Dr. Kimberly Terrell, Contributing Member, Tulane Cancer Center’s Population Sciences Program. kterrell@tulane.edu Office: 5048655787