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HUMAN HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT: ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM
Environmental racism has meant, among other things, that toxic waste dumps, landfills, and industrial plants are much more likely to t placed in communities of color and l the developing world than in predominantly white communities. The interconnectedness of race and poverty has contributed to the disparities in risks faced by ethnic minority communities. In the United States, minorities bear a disproportionate risk of living in an unhealthy environment because race of the local population has been a significant determining factor in the location of hazardous waste facilities nationwide.
The adverse health effects of environmental racism have been devastating for people of color in the United States and throughout the world. A clear example comes from the Amazon rain forest of Ecuador. Over a 21-year period, an American oil company systematically dumped more than 16 million gallons of oil and toxic wastewater into the Ecuadorian Amazon. Three indigenous groups lived in the area where the oil company operated - the Cofan, the Secoya, and the Siona. The Cofan, who numbered approximately 15,000 when the oil company built its first well in 1971, now number only a few hundred. The Secoya and Siona have likewise experienced reductions in their populations. Each of these three groups was a fishing culture when the oil company first came to the Amazon. Now, because of oil contamination, they can no longer fish in the rivers and so face malnourishment. Often young people migrate to the cities and take low-wage jobs. The result of the contamination of the environment has been the practical decimation of these three indigenous cultures.
In the mid-1990s, the remaining indigenous people filed suit against the oil company, claiming that they had violated the people’s right to a healthy environment. They said that the company\'s decision to dump millions of gallons of toxins in the rain forest led to the cultural genocide of the three tribes; this, they claimed, amounts to racial and ethnic discrimination. One of the tribes\' attorneys commented, \"The fact is when [the oil company] drills for oil where white people live, they do it safely and according to industry standards. When they drilled in the headwaters of the Amazon River, however, they blatantly ignored these standards while knowingly wreaking havoc on the local people, almost all of whom are people of color.\" As late as September 1999, the oil company was continuing to fight the lawsuit and refusing to clean up the Amazon. Indigenous leaders launched a national media campaign in the United States, charging the oil company with racism. The company denied that race played any role in it actions.
Scientific literature clearly demonstrates that crude oil and toxic wastewater produced by oil drilling arc highly carcinogenic. A September 1999 public health study of San Carlos, an Ecuadorian town containing more than 30 oil wells, found cancer rates 30 times greater than normal, despite the fact that local inhabitants do not smoke, have a healthy diet, and are not exposed to urban contamination. Additionally, no other industries in the area release cancer-causing toxins. The water in San Carlos had nearly 150 times the amount of hydrocarbons considered safe by internationally recognized limits.
Examples of environmental racism can also be found throughout the United States. Consider these examples.
- In Los Angeles, recycling plants were located in low-income, primarily Latino neighborhoods. Residents consistently complained of dust-like glass particles in the air throughout the community.
- In Augusta, Georgia, a wood preservant factory leaked creosote into the ground, and a scrap metal company leaked arsenic. This ethnic minority community now evidences high rates of cancer and skin disease. The plants are also located near an elementary school, and students there experience high rates of learning disabilities, allergies, and asthma.
- In the predominantly African American area of Chester, Pennsylvania, four hazardous and municipal waste facilities are located. That area has the highest percentage of low-weight births in the state as well as mortality and lung cancer rates 60 percent higher than in the rest of the county.
Many health, civil rights, and environmental activists have become proponents of environmental justice. Proponents of environmental justice argue that people of color have the right to be protected from hazardous substances and that public policy be developed based on mutual respect and justice for all people.
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GENERAL HEALTH
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