at a meeting with people who call this place home. they re not going build in a rich neighborhood because a rich neighborhood will get them out before they even get started. if you just look around, most of the minority communities is where they build these plants, and they don t care. life is nothing to them. it s all about that dollar. the plants are very responsive to the community. they are environmentally responsible, very conscientious about being a good neighbor. spokesman larry derouselle and louisiana state officials say industry is not making the people in mossville sick. derouselle sent us this stack of reports, including one from the state, that says cancer rate in the parish is no different from louisiana as a whole. we also got a federal report saying the dioxin levels in people s blood in the parish are similar to a nearby parish. in each one of their reports, says that, you know, there are
found the high dioxin levels. in 1988, they hired chicago expert, peter orris to advise them on mossville. his advice, polluters should help pay for health care. i thought the local industry, since they knew they were putting these chemicals into the environment, should extend the health insurance they had for their workers to the local community. atsdr ignored the advice. the head of the louisiana department of health and hospitals called orris, quote, an outsider with, quote, unscientific opinions. i was surprised by his response, i must say. it s really tough to have to go back to mossville over and over again, to meet with the agencies over and over again. and see no progress. we expected atsdr, when they started with us, to come out and work with us. no, atsdr has dropped the ball
and they don t care. life is nothing to them. it s all about that dollar. the plants are very responsive to the community. they are environmentally responsible, very conscientious about being a good neighbor. spokesman larry derouselle and louisiana state officials say industry is not making the people in mossville sick. derouselle sent us this stack of reports, including one from the state, that says cancer rate in the parish is no different from louisiana as a whole. we also got a federal report saying the dioxin levels in people s blood in the parish are similar to a nearby parish. in each one of their reports, says that, you know, there are no health related issues related to the industry in this area and emissions that are reported. subra said the studies don t
soldiers exposed to agent orange were more likely to develop a range of cancers and possibly parkinson s disease, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. that brings us back to mossville. toxicologist richard lipsey said dioxin levels found in mossville residents are dangerously high. if you re wondering, lipsey has no connection to anyone in mossville, residents or companies. in mossville, it s three times too high, which means it s being stored not only in their fat but it s being in their pancreas, you will see a lot of diabetes. it s being stored in their liver, you will see liver cancer, being stored in their kidneys and in their brains. are there going to be adverse health effects? yes.
14! in spite of those high blood dioxin levels, the department of health and hospitals concluded no further investigation is needed. put it down just a little bit on your side. dorothy felix and her friends in the local environmental group mossville environmental action now, were outraged, and they decided to launch their own investigation. their lead detective, wilma subra. subra is a chemist who has made it her life s mission to help places like mossville. other than sulfur smell, what kind of smell do you have in your water? communities across the united states and the world now ask her for help. subra used to work for government agencies and companies testing for toxic chemicals but they didn t let her tell the local people what she found and subra didn t like that. in 1981, i said, okay, it s time for me to do this on behalf of the communities.