Newborns living in the worst-polluted areas of Louisiana, including an 85-mile industrial corridor known as “Cancer Alley”, experience low birth weights at more than three times the national average, according to data cited in a report released Thursday. The rate of preterm births there is also twice the national average, researchers found.
In parts of Louisiana near fossil fuel and petrochemical plants, low birth weight rates reached 27% and preterm birth rates 25%, according to research from Tulane University that was published in a Human Rights Watch report on Thursday. The full paper linking pollution and reproductive health is currently under peer review for publication in the journal Environmental Research: Health.
