A toxic threat
Cancer cluster shows kids at higher risk of leukemia in Fifth Ward, Kashmere Gardens
Joseph Rosemond, a lifelong Kashmere Gardens resident, had a cancerous mass removed from his kidney in December.
Now the 53-year-old said he’s worried his 3-year-old son may be exposed to a higher risk of getting leukemia because of the toxic pollution that has permeated the historically Black neighborhood.
“When kids are getting sick, they aren’t getting a chance to see their life in front of them,” Rosemond said. “It’s very scary.”
Another cancer cluster in Fifth
Ward and Kashmere Gardens has been identified by a state investigation in a newly released report, which found that children contracted leukemia at nearly five times the expected rate of the general population.
The Department of State Health Services report found the number of leukemia cases in children was significantly higher in one census tract in particular — a stretch of land where state environmental records show a toxic plume is located beneath more than 100 homes. Mayor Sylvester Turner, as well as current and former residents of the neighborhoods, are asking for accountability from the owner of a long-contaminated rail yard nearby who they say is responsible.
“It’s not just the adults being harmed, but our children as well, by this cancer-causing pollution,” said Andre West, who lives in Fifth Ward and is the spokesperson of IMPACT, a grassroots community environmental organization.
The findings come more than a year after the state identified Houston’s first cancer cluster in the same area surrounding the Englewood Rail Yard in northeast Houston, currently owned by Union Pacific. There were higher rates of adult cancer in the lung, esophagus and throat, according to a state report released in 2019.
That analysis was expanded last year to cover about 30 miles, leading state officials to discover higher than expected rates of cancer in Houston Gardens, Frenchtown and parts of downtown. A supplemental analysis was released in early January, which reported the findings in childhood leukemia.
The analyses do not attempt to determine the causes, but city and community leaders link it to the rail yard, where for decades wood ties were treated with creosote, a preservative that likely causes cancer, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In the 1980s, the creosote treatments ended, but the chemicals sank deep into the ground and created a toxic plume that has moved beneath more than 100 properties and has contaminated groundwater, according to state environmental records.
Union Pacific officials said in statement that the company “sympathizes with the residents who are dealing with medical issues.”
“We are reviewing the supplemental information from the Texas State Department of Health,” said Elizabeth Graham, spokesperson for the company. “Union Pacific’s decades of testing at the site under government supervision shows no exposure pathway from the site to any resident.”
Last week Turner made a call for accountability from the railroad company.
“I am requesting that Union Pacific help to relocate affected residents and create a buffer between contaminated areas and homes in the neighborhood,” the mayor said.
Turner also said the EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality must declare the area a Superfund site — a designation for polluted locations requiring long-term cleanup of contaminations under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.
“Someone needs to be held accountable for the health care costs of these families and specifically these children,” Turner said.
West said the new study confirmed what his group already knew.
“Union Pacific brought these deadly toxic carcinogenic chemicals into our community, causing hundreds of deaths and destroying a vibrant community with the loss of fathers, mothers, grandparents, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, and now our children,” he said.
It also further demonstrated the need for resources to address health inequities in the community, said Rodrigo Cantu, a Lone Star Legal Aid attorney representing IMPACT.
“This might look like more medical clinics, targeted health screenings and further studies into the cause of this cancer cluster,” he said.
One of the ongoing exposure concerns, experts have said, is the potential for harmful chemicals that make up creosote to evaporate through the soil, potentially posing a health risk to those living above the plume. In 2019, the TCEQ said it asked the company to conduct tests on the possibility. The agency said Union Pacific tested its monitoring wells and found contamination was below the EPA’s vapor intrusion screening level.
Rosemond said he stays in Kashmere Gardens because he doesn’t have anywhere else to go. He can’t afford to live elsewhere because he’s on a fixed income.
“We have to live around here and be happy about it and try to deal with the problems that go with staying around here,” he said
But the neighborhood will always be home to him because he’s deeply connected to the community there.
“There’s love around here. There’s plenty of love,” Rosemond said. “Everybody’s trying to grow and make it together.”
The neighborhood has also been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, he said. He’s at higher risk of becoming seriously ill from the virus because he had cancer. He also has a pacemaker and congestive heart failure.
“People are dying all over the place and it’s really scary,” Rosemond said of COVID-19 in his community. “All I can do is trust in God. He’s the only one that can help me.”