Black children shouldn’t die from cancer caused by capitalism
TheGrio...
OPINION: From pediatric cancer wards to neonatal intensive care units, the effects of toxic pollution on Black children are impossible to ignore.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
On Friday, the 13th of March, I woke up and realized I was still trapped inside of a horror story I thought I could escape. That day, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its plans to help lower costs for petrochemical plants by increasing the amount of toxic fumes companies could release into the surrounding communities where babies are born, children go to school and…
…kids die from cancer.
Because that’s what toxic fumes like ethylene oxide do. They cause cancer in kids. When I graduated from medical school and started my initial training to become a pediatrician, I didn’t know that ethylene oxide exposure increased the risk of leukemia and lymphoma in children – until my pediatric cancer rotation at St. Jude’s Children Hospital in Memphis, TN.
My “first day” at St. Jude’s was actually an overnight shift. I listened to the other pediatric doctor in training tell me about the patients I was responsible for taking care of that night. I’m almost certain my heart stopped when he said, “We expect this patient to die. All you have to do is pronounce her dead when the nurse calls you.” The patient was an 8-year-old little girl. It would be my first experience calling “time of death” on a patient and being the doctor who told the parents their child had died.
That night changed me forever.
I knew I could never be a pediatric oncologist, but I was motivated to learn as much as I could about caring for kids with cancer. And I began noticing a pattern. A Black child admitted with cancer was almost always from Louisiana. I mentioned my observation to a nurse who casually remarked, “Oh, those are the kids from ‘Cancer Alley.’” When she realized I had no clue what “Cancer Alley” was, she quickly explained how they suspected the pollution from petrochemical plants and refineries were increasing rates of pediatric cancer for children living between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
Turns out, they were right, and Black families living in those communities already knew they were being poisoned. In 2016, the EPA officially classified ethylene oxide as a carcinogen. By 2022, the EPA sent Louisiana officials a 56-page letter claiming evidence of racial discrimination by state officials for failing to address air pollution and being dismissive of increased cancer risks for the predominantly Black residents living near the industrial plants. In response, Louisiana filed a lawsuit to stop the EPA’s investigation saying, “The agency has weaponized Title VI as a blanket grant of authority to veto any and all permitting decisions that offend its vision of environmental justice and ‘equity.’” The EPA quietly dropped its investigation.
In 2024, a federal judge then gutted any speculation of using the Civil Rights Act to enforce environmental regulations, which was just more proof for a United Nations committee that the U.S. had failed to protect its Black citizens from environmental injustices.
As a doctor who cares for critically ill babies, this is where the horror of it all tightens its grip on me. Besides pediatric cancer, exposure to ethylene oxide is associated with higher rates of pregnancy complications like miscarriages. Babies who are exposed are potentially at double the risk of being born premature. There is also evidence that babies are more likely to be born underweight or have smaller brains than normal. These are the sick and dying kids I am responsible for today. They need machines to breathe, IV tubes for medications, and other specialized equipment to keep them alive. These medical devices and supplies are only safe for my vulnerable babies because they are sterilized using ethylene oxide.
However, sterilization companies have the ability to comply with the 2024 EPA regulatory limits and decrease the environmental exposures driving these widespread health problems. Sterilizing medical supplies is a present-day necessity for using ethylene oxide, but it is not why more polluting plants are being built in “Cancer Alley.” The reality is that the vestiges of slave plantations in places like Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Memphis have been transformed into present-day sacrifice zones of sickness.
Because we exist in spaces driven by profit over people.
I didn’t learn about “Cancer Alley” in medical school. I wasn’t expecting St. Jude’s Hospital to teach me that a Black child in Louisiana had worse health outcomes because of where he lived. Of course, it was years before research studies validated what I saw taking care of kids with cancer. But today, I am no longer that pediatric doctor in training experiencing the horror of a child’s death from cancer for the first time. What I now know for certain is that it is more soul-crushing to witness the well-being of Black babies and children being ignored by federal agencies, state leaders, corporate boards, and the rest of us, too.
This is the time to speak out about the dangers of the EPA’s ethylene oxide proposal. There are better and safer options, but it will require effective regulatory policies (and profit-generating incentives) for corporations to pursue them.
Valencia P. Walker, MD, MPH, FAAP is a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project in partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute. As president and co-founder of the nonprofit organization, Birthing the Magic Collaborative, she champions the agency of Black families to navigate their pregnancies and birthing experiences with confidence and knowledge rooted in community, culture, and evidence-based health care. Dr. Walker also previously served as president for the Association of Black Women Physicians, a nonprofit organization dedicated to diversifying the physician workforce, advocating for better health in historically excluded communities, and promoting health justice.