Nearly 13 months just after a most cancers cluster was detected in northeast Houston, a new cancer cluster has emerged in Houston’s traditionally black Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens neighborhoods.
© Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / Team Photographer
![a sign in front of a tree: Nearly 13 months after a cancer cluster was detected right in northeast Houston, a new cancer cluster has emerged in Houston's historically black Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens neighborhoods. Featured image: Sandra Edwards stands in front of her Fifth Ward home.](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-new-cancer-cluster-identified-in-houston-s-kashmere-gardens-neighborhood/"default":"load":"default","w":"80","h":"53","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB10oq1N.img?h=533&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1142&y=132","size3column":"load":"default","w":"62","h":"42","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB10oq1N.img?h=416&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1142&y=132","size2column":"load":"default","w":"62","h":"42","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB10oq1N.img?h=416&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1142&y=132")
Approximately 13 months after a most cancers cluster was detected appropriate in northeast Houston, a new most cancers cluster has emerged in Houston’s historically black Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens neighborhoods.
Featured image: Sandra Edwards stands in entrance of her Fifth Ward property.
According to a new report introduced by the Texas Office of Wellness Solutions, little ones in the Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens place contracted leukemia at a 5 occasions larger level than the point out ordinary. The cluster was detected in the vicinity of a legacy web site of creosote contamination.

Mayor Sylvester Turner voiced his worries about the most cancers cluster Wednesday, demanding accountability from the neighboring railroad business. Owned by Union Pacific, Englewood Rail Yard is positioned right upcoming to the Kashmere Gardens neighborhood.
“Someone desires to be held accountable for the healthcare fees of these households and specially these little ones,” Turner advised the Houston Chronicle’s Hannah Dellinger.
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When the very first cancer cluster was confirmed in 2019, the TDHS report observed greater fees of respiratory cancers, including esophageal and throat most cancers, compared to other spots across Texas. In the most latest report introduced in January 2021, the range of childhood cancers, specifically which includes acute lymphoblastic leukemia is noticeably larger than anticipated.
“The study once again confirmed what we by now understood: that Union Pacific introduced these fatal harmful carcinogenic chemical compounds into our community, producing hundreds of deaths and destroying a vibrant group with the decline of fathers, mothers, grandparents, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, and now our kids,” Fifth Ward resident and Effects spokesman Andre West advised LoneStar Authorized Blog site.
Fifth Ward inhabitants have long echoed the need to have for accountability following decades of creosote contamination, in accordance to Lone Star Legal Aid which signifies Effect community organization.
“This is a additional demonstration that the Fifth Ward is an environmental justice local community in dire need to have of assets to handle health inequities. This could possibly appear like extra medical clinics, targeted health screenings, and even more experiments into the induce of this cancer cluster,” Lone Star Legal Aid Workers lawyer Rodrigo Cantu claimed.