HOUSTON – On Monday afternoon, members of Fifth Ward had the chance to join elected officials and medical experts to take part in the Fifth Ward Cancer Cluster Summit.
Throughout the past several years, the Fifth Ward community has seen a high incidence of cancer cases, and Monday’s summit looked at factors that might be contributing to this trend.
After testing in 2022 and earlier this year, Houston Health Department discovered dioxin in dozens of soil samples taken from a former Union Pacific Rail Yard in Houston’s Fifth Ward. Dioxin is a chemical compound that takes a long time to break down. It’s highly toxic and can cause cancer.
A fourth of the samples collected at the site last year exceeded levels safe for children, according to the city of Houston.
Resident Latonya Payne said she believes the chemicals caused her son’s leukemia, which ultimately killed him.
“I just believe that the negligence that has been going on for years from the railroad caused, was a contributing factor to his passing away,” Payne said.
Other residents in the area have been upset and crying out for help for years.
Ronald Harden lives in Fifth Ward.
“My mother died out here from cancer. She left here with one kidney. She died from leukemia. My brother’s lost both his kidneys,” Harden said.
Days after he spoke with KPRC 2 in the fall of 2022, Harden said he was scheduled to have a kidney removed because of cancer.
“Someone has dropped the ball out here and they need to go back and pick it up,” he said.
The summit featured Dr. Stephanie Miles Richardson of Morehouse School of Medicine, an expert on environmental-related health issues, particularly those that cause cancer; Houston council member Letitia Plummer, discussions and interactive sessions that will cover a range of topics related to cancer clusters, environmental health and policy solutions.
“We’re giving ourselves 90 days because we’re putting data together, all of the comments in one space. We’re really going to compile everything in a proper document that we can now deliver to the community and our hope is to get a CBA, a Community Benefits Agreement, together so that the community is now speaking with one voice instead of different silos speaking in different spaces,” Plummer said.
