Still moving toward environmental justice.

Abstract

Three years in the making, the Institute of Medicine report Toward Environmental Justice was funded by a consortium of agencies, including the NIEHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Energy. The independent review was authored by a 15-member committee that represented academia, public interest, medicine, law, and industry. The committee met with stakeholders, citizens, public officials, and industry representatives around the United States to assess the need for better research, education, and health policy related to environmental justice. The report investigates the situation of groups of individuals suspected of having disproportionately high levels of exposure to environmental stressors such as chemicals, biologics, allergenics, toxicants, light, noise, odors, and particulate matter. The report calls for more research to help identify and verify the environmental etiologies of diseases. It also recommends that citizens be recruited to participate in the design and execution of the research, and that communication during all phases of the research be open and reciprocal.

Concentration of Trichloroethylene in Breast Milk and Household Water from Nogales, Arizona

“…This finding, along with the unusually high rates of SLE and multiple myeloma in this community (20–22), highlights the need for further studies in this region, as well as in other geographic regions for comparison.…”

“…As late as 1992, one water official knew of no pretreatment of industrial wastes by maquilas before dumping in public drains (16). The incidence rates of some cancers associated with TCE exposure are higher in the Nogales region, compared to the state of Arizona (19, 20). The prevalence of SLE in Nogales, Arizona is two to seven times higher than the overall US prevalence (21, 22).…”

Risk perceptions of drinking bottled vs. tap water in a low-income community on the US-Mexico Border

“…Issues of drinking water safety and risk perception are especially important in small, rural communities, such as in Nogales, Arizona, a city with a population of approximately 19,770 on the U.S. and Mexico international border, where 94.8% of the population is Latino [ 32 ] and approximately 34% of the participants lived below the federal poverty level in 2010. In the late 1990s, there was concern regarding potential increased prevalence of multiple myeloma and systemic lupus erythematosus, and many believed this to be associated with water contamination [ 33 ]. However, since that time very limited research or follow-up has been conducted in that community [ 34 ].…”

Measured and Modeled Comparisons of Chemical and Microbial Contaminants in Tap and Bottled Water in a US–Mexico Border Community

“…The preference for bottled over tap water comes at a high economic cost, where bottled water can be 100–1000 times more expensive than tap water, , and this can be especially impactful on low-income marginalized communities, such as those in the US–Mexico Border. The preference for bottled over tap water may be driven by a lack of trust due to previous tap water quality issues and concern that this may be associated with the high prevalence of lupus and multiple myeloma. − One municipality, in particular, Nogales, Arizona, is a region with high bottled water consumption and potential tap water contamination. − A chemical contaminant specific to this area is trichloroethylene (TCE) where industrial solvents contaminate the groundwater. There is evidence of the community’s exposure, including the detection of TCE in the breast milk of nursing mothers …”