Speaking Wednesday to the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge, Louisiana Chemical Association President and CEO David Cresson discussed the “hard truths” facing the state’s chemical industry—rampant litigation, high insurance costs and workforce shortages among them.
But the point he spent the most time on was his desire to push back against what he described as “misinformation” about Louisiana’s industrial corridor, misinformation he said has tainted public opinion of one of the key pillars of the state’s economy, its chemical industry.
Central to that perception problem is “Cancer Alley,” the nickname given to the 85-mile stretch of land along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that contains over 200 petrochemical plants and refineries. Environmentalists have long argued that emissions from facilities in the corridor have contributed to elevated cancer risks in nearby communities.
Cresson flatly rejected that notion.
“Cancer Alley was sort of a rallying cry for unions back in the ‘80s,” Cresson said, “and it really had no basis in fact, ever. But it caught a spark. Oprah came and talked about it, and now we still deal with it to this day.”
To counter what the Louisiana Chemical Association views as a widespread misinformation campaign, the organization has launched LouisianaHealthFacts.com, a website compiling health data for parishes along the industrial corridor. The website is billed as an effort to address “the myth of Cancer Alley.”
According to Cresson, the data comes from reputable sources like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Louisiana Tumor Registry and the National Cancer Institute.
“What you find is that in the industrial corridor, health outcomes are actually better than they are outside the industrial corridor,” he said.
Cresson cited figures purporting to show cancer incidence rates 5.5% lower and cancer mortality rates 7.4% lower in the corridor than outside it.
“Cancer is not something we take lightly,” he said. “But you certainly can’t point to this corridor and look at these numbers and then, with honesty in your heart, call it Cancer Alley.”
It’s important to note that the health impacts of industrial activity in the corridor remain a matter of debate.
Some research suggests broad parish-level averages can obscure more localized risks. A 2019 Louisiana Tumor Registry report showed “mixed” results in the corridor, with some census tracts reporting significantly higher incidence rates for certain cancers while others reported lower rates.
A 2024 Johns Hopkins-led field study, meanwhile, detected ethylene oxide—a gas linked to cancer—at levels far higher than federal risk thresholds near industrial facilities in southeastern Louisiana.
Still, Cresson maintained that negative public perception of Louisiana’s chemical industry is not rooted in facts and could have dire consequences for the state’s economy at large. The industry employs tens of thousands of workers and supports hundreds of thousands more jobs.
“If these companies start going places where they don’t have to deal with this, then we’ve got a problem,” Cresson said.
