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Louisiana is home to 25 percent of the US petrochemical industry and is the country's fourth-largest crude oil producer. As a result, it is one of the states with the highest levels of industrial pollution, with disastrous consequences for the health of its citizens. In St James County, part of an area of Louisiana known as "cancer alley", the cancer rate is 50 times higher than the national average. With no buffer zone to allow a safe distance between factories and housing, residents feel abandoned by authorities. FRANCE 24's Fraser Jackson and Fanny Allard report.