The following story was published by NPR Illinois on June 10, 2026.

A new nationwide study led by a University of Illinois Springfield faculty member finds that people in lower-income communities and communities of color are more likely to live near sites where industries dispose of cancer-causing chemicals. The research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute.

Jessica M. Madrigal, associate professor in the School of Integrated Sciences, Sustainability and Public Health in the UIS College of Health, Science and Technology, contributed to the research, which was published April 23, 2026, in the Journal of Exposure Science & Evironmental Epidemiology.

Read the story online.