Summary: Premature Babies In Corpus Christi Stasis

Premature Babies in Corpus Christi Stasis Analysis

Jahne Cole - ENGL 1302

In these articles being discussed, the authors, Peter Langlois, Rhiannon Meyers, and Steve Lerner discuss the birth defects in Corpus Christi and the possible causes of the matter. Meyers, Langlois, and Lerner all used the idea of stasis to state the local issue of the health of babies in the southern parts of Texas.

Each one of these articles used all of the steps in stasis to discuss this issue except for evaluation. Each article did a wonderful job describing the problem as a precipitating cause. The articles discussed how the problem of birth defects in the south can correlate to financial problems, health of the mother, and mainly the factories that are polluting

Corpus Christi. Due to the pollution of all of the factories, mothers are breathing in this air, which causes babies to have problems at the time of birth. Meyers said that, “While some of the elevated birth defects have been scientifically tied to chemicals released by chemical plants and refineries — solvents such as benzene are known to cause spina bifida, a birth defect in which the spinal cord, or its coverings, do not completely develop.”
Meyers used facts throughout the article to show the main concern or issue there is in South Texas. Meyers states that Langlois, “looked at nine years' worth of data and found that birth defects were 74 percent higher in the three-county region of Nueces, San Patricio and Kleberg counties than in the rest of the state. He also compared the Corpus Christi region against other counties in the Children's Outreach Heart Program, where children are regularly screened for cardiovascular birth defects and found birth defects to be 75 percent higher.” No one is too sure what the actual cause is.
Steve Lerner also used fact to discuss the issue with the reader. In his article, “Corpus Christi: Hillcrest Residents Exposed to Benzene In Neighborhood Next Door to Refinery Row, he states that “The most recent study published on July 7, 2006 revealed that infants born from 1996 to 2002 in Nueces County, where Corpus Christi is located, had an 84 percent higher chance of being born with a birth defect than elsewhere in the state and a 17 percent chance of being born with a severe defect.”
In the article by Meyers, he used the same exact fact that was used in Peter Langlois’ article. They both state the fact that the birth defect rate is 74% higher than anywhere else in Texas. Meyer also uses Langlois’ facts about the cardiovascular birth defects being 75% higher in this area. Meyers did a great job looking over Langlois’ study and stating what he said so the reader of his article would not get the wrong perception of the study.
Definition was used occasionally throughout the article. Definition is used to state different opposing terms. Meyers discussed that there are multiple possibilities, “…these birth defects also are elevated among babies born to mothers who are poor, minorities, or have diabetes or other health complications.” Meyers used a statement from Langlois saying that, “while he was able to control from some risk factors, he was unable to accurately determine other risk factors that could influence results, such as mothers' income levels or how many had diabetes, which is commonly underreported on birth certificates, he said.”
Langlois’ states that one of the chemical manufacturing plants health causes are birth defects which was determined by The Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry (ATSDR). He used fact in his study and states, “…different birth defects are caused by different agents and since there are so many potential birth defects to examine…” This means that there are multiple reasons for birth defects so we can’t just blame it all on the refineries and chemical plants. Meyers used the same thought for fact instead of subjecting it all on the city problems.
Lerner used this step of stasis to a certain extent. While Meyers stated the other possible cause Lerner just said, “In addition to generating a map of old and new oil industry waste sites, Canales and her family began to look into whether or not there was evidence that exposure to toxic chemicals from the oil industry had caused elevated levels of disease in her community.” He basically said that there are other possible causes, but they are mainly due to pollution.
The main claim of this article is definitely causation.

Meyers claims that, “A new study reaffirming a higher rate of birth defects in the area has been handed to a federal agency to investigate whether refineries and chemical plants have played a role.” This is used mainly because the whole purpose of this news article is to find out why this is happening so we can find out what to do about it. The article mainly leans toward the side that the refineries are the main cause of birth defects Meyers mentions certain researchers to let the reader know that it might not be the only cause. “While this study is more comprehensive than ones in the past, the study can't say that elevated rates of birth defects are caused by local industries. That's because other risk factors for birth defects, such as diabetes and poverty, can't be ruled out, said Peter Langlois, a senior epidemiologist for the birth defects epidemiology and surveillance branch of the Department of State Health

Services.”
In the article by Lerner, he claims that, “Further evidence that industrial pollution was a public health threat in Corpus Christi came when the first in a series of studies of birth defects was published starting in August 2001… suddenly people began to think that perhaps contamination was causing health problems in the community.” This shows that there had started to be worries if this inference was true or not because there started to be something like a chain reaction.
In Lerner’s article, he uses one source that believes one thing.

His information comes from Canales, and she only subjects the issue to one thing. Which in the article by Meyers, he states multiple causes because it was his main focus to show the controversy of the citizens. You can see how just by comparing these two articles no one wants to believe that it is their fault for the problems they have before or after the pregnancy, especially Canales. She wants to believe that there was no fault in their lifestyles only a problem with the refineries that are in their area. “Tragically, during the time period when Canales was pushing for more birth defect studies, two of her grandchildren, Justin and Julian, were born with two different heart defects of types found to occur at elevated levels in her community.” This could be true, but you never know what ese comes in to

play.
The policy or proposal that should be made according to Canales is, “…that she wants, researchers to interview families and draw cord blood from a sample set of babies across the region to more accurately gauge a possible connection between birth defects and environmental factors.” This proposal is under review and is being looked into by elected officials and Senator Juan Hinjosa.
The proposal in this article also talks about Canales’ ideas. They differ in a way though. In Lerner’s article it says that, “Canales has made herself expert in the minutia of how SEP funds are targeted, how to challenge refinery air permits, how to operate sophisticated air pollution monitoring devices, and how to read a regulatory report.” It does not say too much about drawing blood from babies, but it does state that she is investigating in other low-income neighborhoods with unhealthy environments.
References
Meyers, B. R. (n.d.). New study reaffirming high birth defect rate given to feds for follow-up. Retrieved October 01, 2016, from http://www.caller.com/news/new-study-reaffirming-high-birth-defect-rate-given-to-feds-for-follow-up-ep-359483100-316271331.html
Lerner, B. S. (n.d.). Collaborative on Health and the Environment :: Corpus Christi: Hillcrest Residents Exposed to Benzene In Neighborhood Next Door to Refinery Row. Retrieved October 01, 2016, from http://www.healthandenvironment.org/articles/homepage/1886
Langlois, P., PhD. (2010, December 10). Occurrence of Birth Defects In The Corpus Christi Area Compared With Two Other Areas, 1999-2007. Retrieved October 1, 2016.