Fifth Ward residents skeptical of 'cancer cluster' test results

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A historic environmental study is happening now in Houston's Fifth Ward.

The area has been designated as "cancer cluster" by state officials, and residents there have been pleading for help.

"I've been fighting it for 25 years. Just imagine how long my mother has been fighting. I just buried her in April. She was praying to see some kind of change. I just talked to my uncle, 91, in a nursing home. He got cancer," Fifth Ward resident Joe Ballard explained.

Relatives of Ballard and his sister Kathy Blueford-Daniels have lived in Fifth Ward since the 1890s.

They were here when Southern Pacific, now Union Pacific, operated a wood treatment facility on Liberty Road from 1911 to 1984.

The chemicals used at the facility are now known to cause cancer, though Union Pacific has denied any community exposure.

"The fox is watching the henhouse basically," Blueford-Daniels said. "So no, we don't trust it."

EPA officials are currently overseeing Union Pacific tests on soil and water vapor from the neighborhood.

Initial testing shows some elevated levels of cancer-causing chemicals, but results seem mixed.

Previous tests from the city's health department have shown dangers.

EPA officials have given out cards warning residents about toxic chemicals, but insist the area appears to be safe.

"Help us. Do something. We're going in circles around here, so this card don't mean nothing to me," resident Sandra Edwards said while throwing the cards in the air.

"If it happened in any neighborhood other than that this, you'll have all the world scientists and chemists here conducting tests for the people that live here, but since it's a challenged area, this is what we get, what they give us," resident Walter Mallett said. "This is not welfare. We are American people. We have pride and respect. We deserve more."

Houston city officials have introduced a program to buy homes from those who live in the area, but it has not started yet because they are waiting on final results of this testing.

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