Houston Chronicle, "Industrial emissions: Study cites possible link between Ship Channel air, cancer risks; The research bolsters a mother's suspicions about young son's illness"

Before the little boy was diagnosed with cancer, he and his mom used to call the industrial plant that hummed outside their wooden house "the Cloud Maker." That was back before doctors said Valentin Marroquin had acute lymphocytic leukemia, and before another little boy who lived over on Avenue P got cancer, too. Valentin's mom, who has lived her whole life in the Manchester neighborhood, a cluster of aging wooden homes hemmed in by the Houston Ship Channel and a network of rail lines, started staring at the plant, fearing it. And she came to hate the Cloud Maker.

Rosario Marroquin may never know if polluted air caused her 9-year-old son's illness. But a study released Thursday bolstered her suspicions. The 18-month study by the University of Texas School of Public Health identified for the first time a possible link between cancer risks and hazardous air pollutants being emitted in Harris County. The study said children living within two miles of the Ship Channel had a 56 percent higher risk of contracting acute lymphocytic leukemia than children living more than 10 miles from the channel.