Uphenye iCancer Capital of America...

  • 2 days ago
#cancer #Zulu
Transcript
00:00This is Reserve, Louisiana, the cancer capital of America.
00:07My dad just died the day before yesterday from cancer.
00:09My dad died of cancer.
00:12I hope I don't have cancer.
00:14The EPA says the cancer risk here is almost 50 times the national average.
00:19The plant puts people who live and work near the facility at the highest risk of developing cancer in the country.
00:26More than 100 petrochemical plants and refineries dot this corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, often referred to as Cancer Alley.
00:34Go a half mile farther away and the cancer rate drops significantly.
00:38But how many people actually have cancer here and what can be done to stop this?
00:42So I met up with Robert, an 82-year-old lifetime resident of Reserve who lives a few blocks from the plant.
00:48I lost my mother to a weird cancer, my brother, my other daughters had cancers, my neighbors and friends.
00:56Robert, where are we right now?
00:58We're in the center of Cancer Alley.
01:00How long have you lived here?
01:01I was born here in 1940, but then the petrochemical industry showed up.
01:07They treat us like we're animals or something. I mean, it's terrible.
01:11If we go up and down this community, you won't find a home here that hasn't been touched by cancer. Really, it is that bad.
01:20Hey there.
01:21How's it going?
01:22We're knocking door to door. We're trying to talk to people that live here and ask them about Cancer Alley and see if they know anyone who's had cancer.
01:28How are you taking pictures, man? Get away from my house.
01:30Oh, okay. Sorry.
01:31Get away from my house.
01:32See ya. Sorry.
01:33Might have no cancer out here.
01:34Okay. Is it like a controversial thing?
01:36No.
01:37No?
01:38No.
01:39No cancer.
01:41Okay. They were pissed.
01:43Get out of here.
01:44Yeah.
01:45I didn't know that. I would have went with you.
01:49I just want to see all them plants around here. Everybody got cancer. I got no cancer.
01:54You got...
01:55I don't want to be on no news.
01:56Okay, so it is a contentious thing to talk about out here. We're getting told to f*** off, get the f*** out of here.
02:02There's a lot of sensitivity about this topic for obvious reasons.
02:07Robert told me a lot of people in reserve work for these plants or know someone that does.
02:11So speaking out on the relationship between the plant and cancer is somewhat taboo.
02:15Do you know anyone who's gotten cancer out here? Is it pretty common for people to get it out here?
02:19Yeah. You got this plant called Decker. That's the one that's polluting all the cancer.
02:24So you might want to go to the last street. It's called 30th. That's where it's doing the most killing at.
02:29Okay.
02:30Somebody just died like the day before yesterday from cancer. A lot of my people died from cancer.
02:34And these factories are the ones polluting?
02:36Yeah.
02:37Okay. Thank you for your time, sir.
02:3830th seems to be the epicenter. It is the closest to these factories out here.
02:43We're going to pull up to these real quick, see who and what we can find.
02:46But before I spoke to people living on 30th, I drove to the infamous DuPont Denka plant
02:51emitting chloroprene into the air and giving the people that live nearby cancer.
02:55Four years ago, Robert flew 7,000 miles to their headquarters in Tokyo, Japan and tried to get answers from the executives.
03:02Some people who you know and who you represent are profiteering off of the suffering that's being put on my people by DuPont Denka.
03:11They were turned away. Denka later told them they couldn't meet because of pending litigation.
03:16They demonstrated to us today that they don't care about what's happening to the people in Reserve Louisiana.
03:24You know, I brought people on tours and I went right in the front right there, I parked.
03:30And they called the police for me. First they sent out the guard, come running out.
03:35As we drove in undetected, I began to notice some rather ironic signs placed everywhere.
03:40Think safe, stay safe from cancer that we're giving you and your family.
03:44Safety is everyone's responsibility.
03:46The irony of these signs is that everyone living around this factory is getting cancer.
03:50And little did I know, the DuPont Denka plant was one of over 150 petrochemical plants along what's known as Cancer Alley,
03:57an 85-mile stretch of land along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
04:02Environmentalists refer to Cancer Alley as a sacrifice zone, but DuPont Denka claims
04:07The company says the EPA's chloroprene concerns are based on faulty science, resulting in a dramatically inflated risk factor.
04:15Surrounding this entire city we see factories right now.
04:18Look at this horrible thing right here, man. This is a grain elevator.
04:22They do import and exports of grains.
04:25And this also pollutes the environment?
04:27Oh, terribly so. It's what's called grain dust.
04:30That contaminated water right there, could I drink from it?
04:33No, you can't drink from the city water here. We don't drink the water here, we buy water.
04:39Could I take a shower out here?
04:41Well, that's the one thing that we're worried about because we can't find a way to take a shower.
04:47We've got to shower in this water.
04:49This is the one plant that I was telling you that produces a known carcinogen.
04:55There's just so many of them, and they're right next door to what is called nalcochemical,
05:00which is an entirely different chemical.
05:02What are we in front of right now? I'm feeling a little burn in the eyes.
05:05This is an aluminum factory, and this horrible stuff you see here pervades this whole community.
05:11What health effects is this aluminum known to have on people?
05:14They're quiet about that.
05:16They're quiet about it.
05:17I can taste something in the air right now, feel it burn my eyes a little bit.
05:20Factories everywhere.
05:21Seeing all of these plants pollute the air, water, and soil with various carcinogens,
05:26you might be wondering,
05:27Why haven't you moved?
05:28Why should I move? How can I move?
05:31I struggled all my life to build this.
05:33What is happening in Americans, a poor person right now, in good conscience,
05:39who would I actually sell this house to?
05:43What poor, unsuspecting family would I trick into moving into this debt trap?
05:49And to add insult to injury, Robert lived here before the plants were even built.
05:53In 1963, I noticed the construction.
05:57We could see the construction going on when we passed on the highway right there,
06:02but we knew nothing about it.
06:03No, they never talked to us formally.
06:05We saw the white residents moving out.
06:09We didn't know why.
06:10And how did they know?
06:11Well, because they told them.
06:12I had to move my wife out.
06:14My wife is living in Anaheim, California with my youngest son.
06:18My baby daughter got this very rare disease that our doctors told her was brought on
06:24by her lifelong exposure to chloroprene.
06:27I had to move. She's in New Orleans.
06:29The disease she got is so rare, it's terrible, man.
06:33And people still live here to my left right now?
06:35There are some people that have moved in here.
06:38And look at that, boom, factory.
06:40Wow. What is that factory right there?
06:42That's Marathon Oil.
06:44That's an oil refinery.
06:46Second largest in the United States.
06:48There's a few homes as we're driving through.
06:50It seems insane to live wedged in between two factories.
06:54All this pollution from all ends.
06:56It's got to dramatically reduce your lifespan.
06:58I can smell a much stronger smell in the air.
07:00The closest comparison is what I've tasted and felt in Ohio
07:05when the train wreckage spilled a bunch of stuff.
07:07Hey there.
07:09I just want to ask, do you ever have difficulty breathing out here?
07:12We breathe all the pollen and dust.
07:16Okay. Is there any history of cancer with your family or anyone who's lived with you?
07:20My mama had breast cancer.
07:22Did she live here?
07:23Yeah.
07:24I've got a little brother that died of leukemia.
07:27Do you feel like they're responsible for the cancer?
07:29Or the chemicals, I guess.
07:32Don't shoot me. Don't shoot me. Don't shoot me.
07:35Don't shoot me. Don't shoot me. Don't shoot me.
07:37Hey, how are you?
07:38I was wondering if you knew anyone who's had cancer out here.
07:41My neighbor has skin cancer.
07:44Skin cancer?
07:45Yeah.
07:46Took over all his space.
07:48Do you think it's because of the factories around here?
07:50I have no idea.
07:52Cancer is everywhere.
07:54Everybody has cancer.
07:57Have you lived here your whole life?
07:58Oh yeah.
07:59We moved here when I was a baby.
08:02I'm 76.
08:04I wouldn't have thought a day over 50.
08:08How is it living in between these two factories?
08:11Oh, we have dust.
08:14Dust?
08:15Dust.
08:16I think that's why we got cancer.
08:19I hope I don't have cancer.
08:22No, me too.
08:23Has any of your family members had anything?
08:25My daddy died of cancer.
08:28Would you move out of here if you could?
08:30Oh no.
08:31No? This is home?
08:32I'm gonna die.
08:33Cynthia, it's been a pleasure.
08:35It was great to meet you.
08:37I hate this.
08:38I know, I'm chilling.
08:39The consensus is that everyone out here knows someone,
08:42if not their family member, neighbor, or themselves,
08:44who's gotten cancer out here.
08:45This is kind of crazy.
08:46And keep in mind, this isn't even the street closest to the Danca factory
08:50where people are most affected by cancer.
08:52Speaking of companies that exploit you for profit,
08:54I recently found out I was still being charged 50 bucks a month
08:58for an expired security system I don't own anymore,
09:0150 bucks a month for a legal document template generator,
09:04$99 a year for Instacart,
09:06$10 a month for DoorDash,
09:08a Netflix and Hulu account,
09:1050 bucks a month for Wi-Fi on the plane.
09:12I'd literally forgotten I was paying for these subscriptions
09:15until I signed up for Rocket Money,
09:17the sponsor of this video.
09:19After I linked my bank account to the app in like two seconds,
09:22I tapped recurring payments and found all these expenses
09:25I didn't even know I had.
09:26And after a few taps, they were all gone.
09:29No time-consuming customer service phone calls,
09:31no email chain begging them to cancel my subscription.
09:34Using Rocket Money, now I'm spending hundreds of dollars less
09:37on subscriptions I didn't even use.