Houston Health Department starts investigating cancer-struck area

A cancer-causing chemical has been found near homes in the Fifth Ward area, and residents are saying it's killing them. 

Saturday, the City of Houston Health Department joined with community leaders to speak with them about the sickness they say is spreading through their neighborhoods.  

"Everybody around here dies with cancer- everybody,” says Alberta Smith, a long-time resident of Fifth Ward. The mother of seven says one of her sons died of cancer and another was diagnosed in 2018. 

The Texas State Department of Health Services found higher than normal rates of cancers in Fifth Ward neighborhoods near a former creosote facility; the facility was located in a railyard formerly owned by Southern Pacific Railroad.

So far, 110 homes have been found to be sitting on contaminated groundwater. 

“This particular kind of survey that we’re doing- really trying to get information to understand better their environmental health and the cancer cluster that’s been found here- it’s definitely unusual for Houston,” says Loren Hopkins, chief environmental science officer at the Houston Health Department.

Volunteers are now going door to door asking how long residents have lived in the area, if they’ve been diagnosed with cancer, and if so, what kind. Throat and lung cancers have been previously linked to creosote.  

“I don’t think southern Pacific was forthcoming at that time to even educate people about the chemical aspect of creosote,” says Representative Sheila Jackson. 

“This is a working-class neighborhood. Many families moved here just to work on the railroad.”

She adds, “In minority neighborhoods, there’s probably less of a sense that you can fight up against a big company.”

Lee says the health department’s survey could lead to a class-action lawsuit. She is also planning a community meeting near the end of January to connect residents with representatives from the CDC and local hospitals. She says environmental activist Erin Brockovich is also expected to be in attendance.  

Meanwhile, residents hope to live long enough to see the results of an investigation. 

“It’s bad, but nobody can help us but Him,” says Smith. "That’s all.”

The health department says it will have the initial surveys done by mid-January. Then, those results will be sent to the state’s health department to see if there’s a connection between the contamination and the cancer cluster.