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July 2003 | Volume 1, Number 10
Promoting
the Environmental Justice
& Health Union mission, Catalyst identifies training,
research, policies, events, and funding opportunities that
foster partnerships to eliminate environmental disease in
low-income communities of color within the United States. To do
that, Catalyst depends on information submitted by an advisory
board of environmental health professionals and environmental
justice activists as well as our readers.
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TOOLBOX
10 minute website
TechTip
- Many community groups
do not have websites. However, the web is a vital resource
for informing people about the activities of the group.
Tech TV
describes how to build a free website in ten minutes. The group only needs to provide text.
Support for interpreters
The
access project has identified resources available to
support language assistance in healthcare.
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OTHER
REPORTS OF INTEREST
Unequal access
A chartbook
with the most up-to-date information on racial/ethnic disparities
in health, health insurance coverage, and health care access
and quality, has been published by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
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ADVISORY
BOARD
Lynn Battle
Executive Director, Citizen's
Lead Education & Poisoning Prevention (Birmingham, AL)
Michael
Green
Executive Director, Center
for Environmental Health (Oakland, CA)
Swati
Prakash
Environmental Health Director, West
Harlem Environmental Action (New York, NY)
Alejandra
Tres
Executive Director, Association
of Environmental Health Academic Programs (Portland,
OR)
The Environmental Justice and Health Union is an independent
project of the Center for
Environmental Health
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SUBSCRIBE and PROVIDE
The
Catalyst
is an online newsletter sent monthly to Environmental
Justice & Health Union members.
Groups with annual budgets of less than $200,000
receive free EJHU
membership. The EJHU website (www.ejhu.org) includes
information for activists and professionals about training,
research, and policies, EJHU membership, and past issues of
Catalyst.
If you want to provide information to be considered for inclusion in Catalyst, include a contact name, website, and e-mail address. Please forward the information to ejhu@ejhu.org
or the following address:
Max Weintraub - Director
Environmental Justice and Health Union
528 61st Street, Suite
A
Oakland, CA 94609
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The Next Step...
The
February 2003 issue
of Catalyst announced the release of several reports documenting
the human body burden of toxins in the United States. The
Environmental Justice and Health Union has subsequently
evaluated the most comprehensive of the reports, the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention "Second National Report
on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals" for toxic
burdens by race. The EJHU review of the race and ethnicity
data from the National
Report is summarized in the table below. EJHU will release
the full
report on August 1.
The National Report includes information on the concentration
of 116 chemicals in Mexican Americans, Non-Hispanic Blacks
and Non-Hispanic Whites. The National Report creates a national
baseline for 89 chemicals and updates the national baseline
for 27 chemicals.
If all socioeconomic factors were equal, one might expect
the concentration of environmental chemicals to be evenly
distributed across a U.S. population that is approximately
three-quarters White and one-quarter people of color. The
three categories where such a distribution is most closely
paralleled are for chemicals from human activity that people
breathe (PAHS created by use of fossil fuels) and naturally-occurring
environmental chemicals (metals and phytoestrogens). However,
chemicals created from human activity that people eat or
touch, such as dioxins, PCBs, phthlates
(in everything from plastics to personal-care products),
pesticides, herbicides, pest repellants, and disinfectants
excessively burden people of color. Furthermore, the synergistic
and cumulative effects of low concentrations of chemicals
that people of color are exposed to, but White people are
not, remain unknown.
The National Report is released every two years.
Future reports will include findings from studies of people living in special-exposure situations
(e.g., pesticide applicators, people living near hazardous waste sites, people working in lead smelters).
EJHU
Review of Race and Ethnicity data from the "Second National
Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals"
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Race/ethnicity
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Findings
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| Mexican American |
Pesticides - 26 chemicals
examined. 6 of the 26 were not found in any person.
Of the remaining 20, 6 were widely found. The mean level
of 2 of the 6 was highest in Mexican Americans while
the mean level of the remaining 4 was highest in Non-Hispanic
Whites. Of the 14 that were not widely found, the highest
levels of 7 were in Mexican Americans.
Herbicides and Pest repellants and
Disinfectants - 9 chemicals examined. 4 of the 9 were
not found in any person. Of the remaining 5, 3 were
widely found and had a mean level highest in Mexican
Americans. The 2 that were not widely found were detected
in highest levels in Non-Hispanic Blacks.
Limited exposure - The polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbon Chrysene was only detected in
Mexican Americans
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| Non-Hispanic Black |
PCBs and Dioxins - 40 chemicals
examined. 21 of the 40 were not found in any person.
The remaining 19 were not widely found. The highest
levels of 18 of the 19 were in Non-Hispanic Blacks.
Phthalates - 7 chemicals measured.
Of the 7, 4 were widely found. The mean level of 3
of the 4 widely found was highest in Non-Hispanic
Blacks. The highest levels of the 3 that were not
widely found were detected in Non- Hispanic Whites.
Tobacco smoke - 1 chemical measured.
It was not widely found and was detected in highest
levels in Non-Hispanic Blacks.
Limited exposure - 5 chemicals (3
types of dioxins and PCBs, the pesticide Mirex, and
the herbicide 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) were
only detected in Non-Hispanic Blacks
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| Non-Hispanic White |
Metal, PAHs, and Phytoestrogens
- 33 chemicals examined. 4 of the 33 were not found
in any person. 24 of the remaining 29 were widely found.
The mean level of 17 of the 24 was highest in Non-Hispanic
Whites.
Limited exposure - There were no chemicals
that were only found in Non- Hispanic Whites
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Other findings:
Of the 37 chemicals that were widely
found, 21 were found in highest concentrations in
Non-Hispanic Whites, 11 were found in highest concentrations
in Mexican Americans, and 5 were found in highest
concentrations in Non-Hispanic Blacks.
DDT was not widely found and was detected
only in Mexican Americans and Non-Hispanic Blacks.
Of the 44 chemicals that were not
widely found, 25 were found in highest concentrations
in Non-Hispanic Blacks, 11 were found in highest concentrations
in Mexican Americans, and 8 were found in highest
concentrations in Non-Hispanic Whites.
35 of the 116 chemicals were not detected.
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Methodology: The data was drawn from the National Reports' results for blood and urine samples collected as part of the
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 - 2000. For the purposes of the EJHU assessment,
lipid-adjusted blood results and creatinine-adjusted urine results were used. Such adjustments compensate for
individual variation in blood serum and urine and are considered more accurate than data that is not subject to such adjustment.
Tobacco smoke was included even though adjusted data was not presented in the National Report.
EJHU used two sets of adjusted results from the National Report: the geometric mean if the chemical was widely found or,
if it was not, the result for the small portion of the population that showed some exposure. 35 of the 116 chemicals were not detected.
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PARTNERSHIPS
Trust
Trust is a key issue in partnerships between environmental
health professionals and environmental justice activists,
yet one that is infrequently discussed in-depth. Nilak Butler
and Pam Tau Lee, two long-term activists, recently wrote
about the
role of trust within the environmental justice movement.
Their writing provides valuable insights for those within,
and working with, the movement.
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ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH
Minority practitioners
The recent Supreme Court decision supporting affirmative
action is a victory
for organizations such as the Association
of Environmental Health Academic Programs, Council
of Environmental Professionals, Association
of Schools of Public Health and the American
Association of Medical Colleges that seek to create a diverse
environmental health workforce.
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ENVIRONMENTAL
JUSTICE
 New Jersey
The New Jersey Public Policy Research Institute has written
a
summary of environmental justice activities in the state.
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CLOSING DATES
Until full
Economics of
environmental justice
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July 3
Pennsylvania
environmental justice advisory board
Nominations for board
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
July 15
ATSDR
- Anniston, AL
Community partnership;
Up to $750,000
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July 15
Blue
Cross of Michigan - Reducing disparities
Community partnership;
Up to $150,000
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July 15
Community
initiatives to reduce asthma, diabetes and obesity
Community partnerships;
Up to $1,000,000
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July 15
Local initiative funding
partners program
Community partnerships;
Up to $500,000
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
July 31
National
environmental public health - Atlanta, GA
Conference scholarship application due
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August 1
The
Community Foundation - Riverside and San Bernardino, CA
Community impact;
Up to $10,000
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August 4
The
Health Net - Santa Clara, CA
Health partnership;
Up to $25,000
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August 21
The
Wellmark Foundation - Iowa and South Dakota
Chronic disease prevention partnership;
Up to $50,000
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August 29
Progressive
Technology Project
Organizing and technology support;
Up to $10,000
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September 15
Kansas
Health Foundation - Kansas
Recognition grants;
Up to $25,000
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September 15
The
California Endowment
Local opportunities;
Up to $50,000
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September 17
NIH
- Partnerships for communication
Up to $900,000
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September 30
EPA
- Partnerships for communication
Up to $100,000
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EVENTS CALENDAR
July 7, Washington DC
Advisory
committee review of EPA draft report on the environment
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July 8-9, RTP NC
EPA new
national air monitoring actions
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
July 15 - 17, Washington DC
Children's
health protection advisory committee
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July 16 - 19, Baltimore MD
National
association of local boards of health
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July 17 - 18, Philadelphia PA
Environmental
justice and community-based participatory research
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
July 20 - 22, Portland OR
Public participation
and GIS
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July 22 - 25, Philadelphia PA
EPA community
involvement conference
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July 28 - 31
Rooted in community youth conference
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July 31 - August 5, Santa Fe NM
Eliminating
health disparities in Indian Country
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August 5
Testing
pesticides on humans
Close of comment period
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August 23 - 26, Atlanta GA
National
association of community health centers
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
August 27 - 29, Nashville TN
Minority
health summit
Return to EJHU or Catalyst
homepage
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