Verona Mayor Joseph Heck during an Environmental Protection Agency meeting at the high school gym in his Missouri city.
©ProPublica: Kathleen Flynn
ProPublica, 25 March 2022
State Launches Cancer Study After ProPublica Identifies Toxic Air Pollution Hot Spot
After learning from a ProPublica analysis that his Missouri city had a high estimated cancer risk from toxic air, Verona Mayor Joseph Heck demanded that the state investigate. Health officials confirmed his worst fears and want to learn more.
After learning from a ProPublica analysis that his Missouri city is a hot spot of toxic air pollution, Verona Mayor Joseph Heck demanded that government officials look into the local cancer rate.
Three months later, the state health department confirmed his fears: The rate of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the Verona zip code is more than twice as high as that of the surrounding county and state, officials told him. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that begins in the lymphatic system, can be caused by exposure to ethylene oxide, a potent carcinogen released by the BCP Ingredients plant in Verona. ProPublica’s unique analysis of air pollution data from the Environmental Protection Agency found the facility’s ethylene oxide emissions substantially increased local cancer risk; in some areas, the estimated industrial cancer risk was 27 times what the EPA considers acceptable.