This new paper (and this press report) looks at Louisiana parishes in which (according to 2000 census) 5% or more of households spoke French at home. They do this to identify Acadians as an ethnically unique group with racial predisposition to colon cancer. Indeed, they note that these parishes have among the highest colon cancer rates in the US.
I found it kind of weird that they focus almost all of the discussion on genetics, when this region is also well known as an environmental disaster area, for example due to its density of petrochemical and oil facilities, the backbone of the local economy (in conjunction with famously lax environmental regulation and horrendous occupational protections). To be fair, there are a few paragraphs in the discussion section about potential environmental and dietary exposures as alternate explanations, but really if you look at the article, abstract and boxed highlight points, it is all about genetics.
This predisposition hypothesis seems especially weak to me, however, in light of this plot in the paper:
This predisposition hypothesis seems especially weak to me, however, in light of this plot in the paper:
The “Acadian 9” are the 9 parishes with the highest proportions of French speakers. The “Acadian 18” are all of the southern Louisiana parishes highlighted in the map above. As you can see, the excess rate that is the focus of this article is only for men. Women have almost exactly the same rate in every comparison (i.e. with the state as a whole and with US as a whole). This seems to me therefore especially suspicious as a putative genetic effect, and looks much more like something occupational. I don’t see that the authors comment on this sex difference anywhere in relation to their hypothesis of ethnic predisposition.
Finally, what is with this census data? Almost no native-born Louisianans speak French at home anymore. French-language education was banned just about 100 years ago. I have spent a lot of time in this region of Louisiana and have only met one person who could speak Cajun French in complete sentences, and he was in his 80s.
Finally, what is with this census data? Almost no native-born Louisianans speak French at home anymore. French-language education was banned just about 100 years ago. I have spent a lot of time in this region of Louisiana and have only met one person who could speak Cajun French in complete sentences, and he was in his 80s.