Cancer Alley () is the regional nickname given to an stretch of land along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, in the River Parishes of Louisiana, which contains over 200 petrochemical plants and refineries. This area accounts for 25% of the petrochemical production in the United States. The region is considered a sacrifice zone. In Cancer Alley, forty-six individuals per one million are at risk of developing cancer, compared with the national average of roughly thirty individuals per one million. The abnormally high cancer risk and concentration of petrochemical operations inspired the "Cancer Alley" moniker. Additionally, researchers have found that racial disparity in cancer risk from air pollution worsen as minority concentration increases across the region. Individuals in black-dominant areas are 16% more at risk than those in white-dominant areas, and people in low-income tracts also bear a cumulative risk 12% more than those in high-income tracts. Community leaders such as Sharon Lavigne have led the charge in protesting the expansion of the petrochemical industry in Cancer Alley, as well as addressing the associated racial and economic disparities. History In 1987, when residents of one street in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, primarily African-American and low income, noticed the abundance of cancer cases within their community, "Cancer Alley" became the new name for Jacobs Drive. As similar incidences became more and more prevalent in surrounding areas, the "alley" grew to encompass an eighty-five mile stretch along the Mississippi River. St. James Parish consists of 48.8% African American residents. 16.6% of its population lives in poverty. However, this demographic is not reflected in the employment at the manufacturing plants. Surveying 11 plants in the St. James Parish, researchers found that these plants only employed between 4.9% and 19.4% African Americans, which is remarkably low in comparison to the overall population. In 2019, Louisiana had the fifth-highest death rate from cancer in the United States. While the national average is 149.09 deaths per 100,000, Louisiana's rate was 168.1 deaths per 100,000. However, according to the American Cancer Society's Statistics Center, Louisianans' risk factors for cancer rank similarly to national averages in many categories, although overweight and obesity prevalence ranked 3rd and 4th in the nation in 2017 and 2018 according to the same article. Louisiana ranked 6th highest in the nation for the number of people who get cancer, or incidence, between 2014 and 2018. In 2018, Toxics Release Inventory (TRI)