By LEONARD GRAY

NORCO – A nationally recognized toxicologist told a group of Norco residents Sunday they have good reason to be concerned about their health as well as emissions from neighboring industry.

Dr. Peter Orris spoke to 40 residents gathered at New City Temple Church of Christ in the Diamond Subdivision area, with a computer presentation explaining the links between pollutants produced by local industry and the incidences of ailments ranging from asthma to cancer.

“It’s sort of a new situation for me, with small communities nestled next to an industrial complex,” he said.

Orris received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, his master’s degree in public health from Yale University and his medical degree from the Chicago Medical School.

Currently, he is the chief of service of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago Hospital and Medical Center.

Orris’ findings, based on data compiled by Dr. Wilma Subra, linked chemicals produced at the plant and emitted, either through the stacks or through fugitive emissions, resulted in conditions such as asthma, liver and kidney failure, brain tumors and adverse prenatal effects on infants.

The study reviewed not only health impacts of major events, such as the Shell Oil explosion, but also long-term, gradual effects on the neighbors’ health.

He called upon the Norco industrial community to make a major commitment to sustainable development, its responsibility as a good neighbor, to take responsible care of its products and productio and to full assess contamination and fully monitor current production.

“The onus has to be on Shell to either remove the people from harm’s way or to remove the harm from the people’s way,” he added. “Shell would not appear to be taking responsible care.”

Orris admitted other factors contribute to such health problems and each individual’s situation – whether they smoke or have genetic predispositions toward these conditions. “But it’s always a combination of the individual and the environment,” he said, and pointed out there are basically on 30 carcinogens.

He also said many workers at these plants do not experience the same health problems.

“What’s particularly bad, it isn’t the workers trading their health for jobs,” he said, but what about their friends, families and neighbors.

His visit to Norco was sponsored by the Concerned Citizens of Norco, Louisiana Bucket Brigade and the Xavier University Deep South Center for Environmental Justice.