Garland Residents Concerned Neighborhood Location Impacting Their Health
GARLAND, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Garland city leaders met with a group of residents Friday to discuss their concern about the number of cancer cases in the city.
Resident Rhona Mullen had been asking these questions since 1994. At the time she didn't have cancer, but she does now.
Mullen and another resident started going door-to-door nearly 25 years ago because they were surprised by the number of people they knew who had cancer; however, neither city nor state officials took action.
That changed earlier this year when residents in Meadowlark and Williams Estates discovered they also shared similar struggles with different types of cancer.
These neighborhoods are adjacent to an industrial development.
Residents said they're concerned pollutants might be what's affecting their health.
"From now until eternity, if it's not abated, it can still create problems," said Don Phillips, a Garland resident. "And once you're introduced to it, it could be 40 or 50 years before you feel the effects of it."
Phillips was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 1999 and fifteen years later his daughter was diagnosed with brain cancer.
The city of Garland agreed Friday to get in touch with state and federal agencies in the next 45 days.
The Texas Department of State Health Services has already conducted a cancer study in Garland based on the concerns.