Collection:LPB

Genre: Newsmagazine

Place Covered: Kaplan, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana

Copyright Holder: Louisiana Educational Television Authority

Date Issued: 1985-10-11

Duration: 00:10:55

Subjects: Environment | Public health | Cancer | HAZARDOUS WASTES

Contributors:

• Johnson, Ken Host
• Vincent, Mable Interviewee
• Jirouard, Ernest Interviewee
• Hanks, Gay Interviewee

This segment from the October 11, 1985, episode of the series “Louisiana: The State We’re In” features Ken Johnson’s report on the concerns in Vermilion Parish about the possible linkage between hazardous waste and cancer. Johnson reports that three members of the Vincent Family in Kaplan died in a ten-month period. It was later discovered that their water supply was contaminated by a nearby abandoned hazardous waste pit. He interviews: Mable Vincent; Ernest Jirouard, Kaplan farmer; and Gay Hanks, the mother of a six-year-old daughter who died of leukemia.