The Associated Press

BATON ROUGE - Louisiana has received a $1 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to study cancer statistics from areas that surround 32 creosote hazardous waste sites.

Creosote is a wood preserver and disinfectant processed in many plants throughout Louisiana. The data collected will be compared to groundwater contaminants and drinking water data from the same areas to see if there are any links between cancer cases and water contamination, the state Department of Health and Hospitals says in a news release.

The grant will be paid out in installments over a three-year period and will allow Louisiana and the other areas receiving money to expand disease surveillance systems.

Louisiana is one of 10 states or cities nationwide to receive the grant this year. The total grants awarded equal $4.2 million in CDC funding and were given to California, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York State, New York City, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Thirty-three states and cities applied for grants.

"With this grant, Louisiana has a unique opportunity to help our nation launch a national disease surveillance system," DHH Secretary David W. Hood said. "We are honored and privileged to be selected as a participant."

Some of the diseases that will be tracked nationwide include various types of cancer, birth defects and Parkinson's disease - three diseases that cause 7 out of 10 deaths in the United States every year.

The CDC doled out the grants in hopes that the data each state or city will collect can be used to start a long-awaited system to help federal health officials track disease patterns and occurrences throughout the country. Such a system also could be useful in the event of a chemical or biological attack by pinpointing an area where a disease surge occurred, health officials said.