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OCTOBER
2002 | Volume 1, Number 1
Promoting
the Environmental Justice
& Health Union mission, Catalyst identifies training,
research, policies, events, and funding opportunities that
foster partnerships to eliminate environmental disease in
poor minority communities 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
Community air monitoring tools
Communities for a Better Environment has developed an air
monitoring tool that accepts information on air toxics
and generates a report that indicates whether air toxics
exceed levels of concern.
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DISPARITIES
Toolkit for communities to eliminate disparities
The Community Resources Toolkit created for the National
Leadership Summit on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparties
in Health is now available. The Toolkit
includes information on disparities data, effective programs,
and technical assistance available to help overcome barriers
to eliminating health disparities.
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REPORTS OF INTEREST
Death on the job
A review of worker
safety and health in the United States by the AFL-CIO
found 5% - 14% of on-the-job worker deaths are due to environmental
causes other than fire.
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ADVISORY
BOARD
Lynn Battle
Executive Director, Citizen's
Lead Education & Elimination Project (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)
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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, Executive Director
Environmental Justice & Health Union 528 61st Street, Suite
A Oakland, CA 94609
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The
Next Step...
On
October 23 - 27, the Second National People
of Color Environmental Leadership Summit will be held
in Washington, DC. The first meeting, held in October 1991,
was attended by hundreds of environmental justice groups
nationwide and resulted in the creation of the Principles
of Environmental Justice. This meeting will examine
successes and failures since and map out next steps for
the environmental justice movement. The Summit emphasis
on collaboration corresponds closely to the EJHU mission.
EJHU will be well-represented at the Summit with several
members of the advisory board and the executive director
in attendance. We hope to see you there!
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PARTNERSHIPS
Controlling
lead hazards in San Diego
Working together, the Environmental
Health Coalition, City of San Diego Housing Commission,
and other groups identified homes
with lead hazards and took steps to control those hazards.
The community teams inspected and collected samples from
40 homes. Five homes are undergoing lead hazard control.
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ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH
 Environmental disease clusters
The U.S. Public
Interest Research Group contacted hundreds of public health
official nationwide regarding suspected local disease clusters.
The resulting on-line report "Health
Tracking And Disease Clusters: The Lack Of Data On Chronic
Disease Incidence And Its Impact On Cluster Investigations"
concludes that resources to study clusters are very limited
and offers possible solutions.
Childhood
environmental disease costs
A recent study found the
costs of four categories of childhood illness - lead poisoning,
asthma, cancer, and neurobehavioral disorders - to be about
$55
billion per year. The study concluded that the estimate
was likely lower than the true cost of such disease and
raised questions about the adequacy of research funding
and pollution prevention efforts.
Panel threatens environmental health regulation
The overhaul of the advisory committee to the National Center for Environmental Health has environmental health advocates angered. Eleven members of the sixteen member committee were replaced in August by the Bush administration. According to the August 30 issue of Science, the new members seek less environmental regulation, and have more industry ties, than the members they replaced.
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ENVIRONMENTAL
JUSTICE
 Pesticide poisoning of California farmworkers
United Farm Workers, Pesticide Action Network North America,
and California Legal Rural Assistance Foundation reported
that more than 450 California farmworkers are poisoned by
pesticides each year. Though the number of poisoned farmworkers
is decreasing, "Fields
of Poison 2002" concludes that pesticide-related worker
health and safety laws are undermined by weak enforcement.
State
environmental justice information
The American Chemistry Council recently moved the 50
State Environmental Justice Survey. Information on Washington
environmental justice activities has also recently become
available.
50 years ago...
American Association of Pediatrics finds the most common
medical emergency in children is poisoning.
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FUNDING CALENDAR
October 30,
The California Endowment
- Local opportunities fund (California)
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
October 31,
Lead
Elimination Action Project Grant
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November 1,
Appalachian Community Fund - General fund (Central Appalachia)
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November
1,
The Bullitt Foundation (Northwest)
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November 1,
Liberty Fund Environmental
Justice Grant (Los Angeles)
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November
6,
Beldon Fund
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November
15,
Impact Fund
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November
20,
Progressive Technology
Project
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
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EVENTS CALENDAR
October 9 - 11, South Padre Island TX;
Border Health
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
October 12, Minneapolis, MN;
Toxic
Threats to Child Development
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
October 15, Triangle Park, NC;
Sex
Differences in Environmental Health
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
October 18 - 19, Durham, NC;
North
Carolina Environmental Justice Summit
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
October 20 - 22, Burlington VA;
National
Forum on Contaminants in Fish
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
October 23 - 25, Atlanta GA;
National
Asthma Conference
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
October 23 - 27, Washington DC;
National People of Color
Environmental Leadership Summit
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
October 25, Washington DC;
Environmental
Justice and Permits
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
October 28 - 30, Albuquerque NM;
New Mexico Environmental
Health Conference
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November
3 - 6, Tucson, AZ;
Technology
transfer and outreach for environmental health
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November 5, Washington DC;
Engaging
the public in clinical research
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November
8 - 9, Philadelphia PA;
Society for Public Health
Education
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November
8 - 10, Sacramento CA;
Student
Action with Farmworkers
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November
9 - 13, Philadelphia PA;
American Public Health Association
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November
14-16, Houston TX;
Health
and Social Justice Conference
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November
15, Harrisburg PA;
Pennsylvania
Environmental Justice Advisory Board
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November
16 - 20, Salt Lake City UT;
Society of Environmental
Toxicology and Chemistry
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November
18, Berkeley CA;
Environmental
Justice and the Law
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
November
19 - 21, San Francisco CA;
Tobacco
or Health
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
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