Untitled Document

Environmental Racism in the U.S. and in the World: FACT SHEET
By Amira Beaird

These alarming facts were found through web research on environmental racism. The facts are not confined by United States borders. It is interesting to see how environmental racism has spread itself across the globe, directly harming the lives of marginalized peoples.

In the United States……..

A report entitled Race and Toxic Wastes in the United States Church of Christ, said that among a variety of indicators race was the best predictor of hazardous waste facilities in the United States. (Bryant, 1992)

A report produced by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) found that three out of four landfills in the Southeast were located in predominantly poor African –American communities. (Bryant, 1992)

Predominantly black and Hispanic Southside Chicago, Illinois, has the greatest concentration of hazardous wastes sites in the nation. (Nelson, 1987)

In Houston, Texas, six of the eight municipal incinerators and all five of the municipal landfills are located in African-American neighborhoods. One of the two remaining incinerators is located in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. (Bullard, 1984)

Pesticide exposure among predominantly Hispanic farm workers causes more than 300.000 pesticide-related illnesses each year. A large percentage of farm workers are women of childbearing age and children. These demographics may be directly related to the emergence of childhood cancer clusters in McFarland and Delano, California. (Wasserstrom and Wiles, 1985)

Navajo Indians were used as the primary workforce for the mining of uranium ore, leading to alarming lung cancer mortality rates. The Navajo community in Shiprock, New Mexico, where 1,100 tons of radioactive waste water flooded the Rio Puerco River, is one of numerous Native American communities near mills and nuclear facilities (Shuey, 1984)

The nation’s largest hazardous waste landfill, receiving toxic materials from forty-five states and several foreign countries, is located in predominantly African-American and poor Sumter county, in the heart of the Alabama Black Belt. (Gunter and Williams, 1984)

Three executives in Illinois were convicted of murder in the death of a Polish immigrant worker from cyanide poisoning. Their plant employed mostly Hispanic and Polish immigrants who spoke and read little English. The skull and crossbones labels were erased from the cyanide drums. (Asher, 1984; Greenhouse, 1985)

Fraying asbestos was discovered in the housing projects of Chicago. Asbestos, which causes crippling lung diseases and cancer, is an especially serious problem in substandard housing common to most of the nation’s inner cities. (Allen, 1986)

Six U.S. Cities that Lead the Hazardous Waste List-- Cities # of Sites % of African-Americans
+ Memphis, TN-- 173-- 43.3%
+ St. Louis, MO-- 160-- 27.5 %
+ Houston, TX-- 152-- 23.6%
+ Cleveland, OH-- 106-- 23.7%
+ Chicago, IL-- 103-- 37.2%
+ Atlanta, GA-- 94-- 46.1%
(Bryant, 1992)

More than fifteen million African Americans and eight million Hispanics live in communities with one or more hazardous waste sites. (Bryant, 1992)

In the Gauley Bridge incident of 1930, in West Virginia, 169 Black men dropped dead on the spot after being recruited to tunnel through a mountain with high silica content. They were immediately buried. They were not told of any hazards and were not given any protective breathing equipment. (Davis, 1977)

When comparing the number of hazardous waste sites in the ten largest white communities in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to the ten largest black communities in Baton Rouge; the combined population of whites is 124,400 with 5 waste sites/.2 waste per capita and the combined population of blacks is 110,000 with 15 waste sites/132.6 waste per capita [1.0=883 lbs. of waste per capita] (Gould, 1986)

All of the municipal waste and sewage in Delaware County of Pennsylvania is processed in Chester, Pennsylvania where 65% of the 39,000 population is African-American; outside of Chester only 6.2 % of the population is African-American.

Half of all Asian/Pacific Islanders and American Indians live in communities with uncontrolled toxic waste sites. (CBCF Health, 2004)

Communities with existing incinerators have 89% more minorities than the national average in the U.S. (CBCF Health, 2004)

An estimated 50% of African-Americans and 60% of Hispanics live in a county in which two or more air pollutants exceed the governmental standards. (CBCF Health, 2004)

African-American children are five times more likely to suffer from lead poisoning than white children, and 22% of African-American children living in older housing are already lead poisoned.

A National Law Journal article stated that the environmental protection agency took 20% longer to identify SuperFund sites in minority communities and that the polluters of those communities paid 50% less than those in white communities. (National Law Journal , 1992)

Waste disposal companies have been trying to convince Native Americans to permit dumping on reservations under the guise of improving economic conditions. (Weintraub, 1994)

Worldwide …….

Puerto Rico’s aquifers have been contaminated by massive discharges from pharmaceutical companies, oil refineries, and petrochemical plants. (Puerto Rico Industrial Mission, 1986)

Equatorial Guinea had an agreement with the United Kingdom to dispose of 10 million drums of waste for $1.6 million. (Westra, 2001)

Guinea Bissau was the site for between 1 million and 3.5 million tons of industrial and pharmaceutical waste from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the United States.(Westra, 2001)

At least 1,500 gallons of hazardous waste from the U.S. military agencies were exported and dumped in Zimbabwe, falsely labeled as cleaning fluid. The company that purchased the waste in Zimbabwe used grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development. (Westra,2001)

West Africa reported that waste disposal is a $12 billion-a-year business for them and that it annually deals with 300 million metric tons of toxic waste produced by 24 industrialized countries. (Westra, 2001)

On average, it costs $2,000-$3,000 per ton to process wastes in industrialized countries, but it costs $2.50 in non-industrialized countries. (Westra, 2001)

Benin was importing 1 million to 5 million tons of waste from Sesco of Gilbraltar at $2.50 per ton; two shiploads of radioactive waste were to be buried in a landfill. (Westra, 2001)

A contract in 1991 between Swiss and Italian firms allowed exports of various types of toxic waste to Somalia. The contract was supposed to last for twenty years. The first shipment was believed to be on the order of $80 million. (Westra, 2001)

Bibliography
Allen, M. “Asbestos in Chicago Housing Authority apartments poses possible health hazards”; Chicago Reporter; 15th edition; pp.1-4; 1986
Asher, J. “A Warning to employees: Unique charge of murder”; Philadelphia Inquirer; February 26, 1984
Bryant, B. and Mohai, P. (Ed.); Race and the incidence of environmental hazards: A time for discourse; Westview Press, Inc.; Boulder 1992
Bullard, R.D.; “Unplanned environments: The price of unplanned growth in boomtown Houston”; California Sociologist ; 7th edition; pp.85-101; 1984
Cole, L.W. and Foster, S.R.; From the ground up: Environmental racism and the rise of the environmental justice movement; New York University Press; New York 2001
Commission for Racial Justice; “Toxic waste in the United States”; 1987
Davis, M.E.; “Occupational hazards and the black worker”; Urban Health; 16th edition; pp.8; August 1977
Gould, J.M.; The quality of life in American neighborhoods: Levels of affluence, toxic waste, and cancer mortality in residential zip code areas; Westview Press, Inc.; Boulder 1986
Greenhouse, S.; “Business and the law: Responsibility for job safety”; New York Times; June 25, 1985
Gunter, B. and Williams, M.; “Alabama: The nations dumping ground- A special report on hazardous wastes and toxic chemicals in Alabama”; Montgomery Advertiser; June & December 1984 (two-part special supplement)
“Unequal protection: The racial divide in environmental law”; National Law Journal; September 21,1992 (special issue)
Nelson, D.; “Our toxic trap: Crisis on far south-side”; Chicago Sun Times; May31-June 5, 1987 (six part series)
Puerto Rico Industrial Mission; General proposal; San Juan, Puerto Rico; 1986
Shuey, C.; “Uranium Mill Tailings: Toxic Waste in the West”; Engage/Social Action; pp.40-45;October 1984
Wasserstrom, R.F. and Wiles, R.; Field duty: U.S. Farm workers and pesticide safety use ; World Resources Institute; Washington D.C.; 1985
Westra, L and Lawson, B.E.; Faces of environmental racism: confronting issues of global injustice; Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.; Lanham; 2001
Wigley, D. and Schrader-Frechette, K.S.; “Environmental racism and biased methods of risk assessment”; Franklin Pierce Law Center. Retrieved on March 22, 2004, from http://wwwfplc.edu/RISK/
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Retrieved March 22, 2004, from http://cbcfhealth.org/contentID/1107
Weintraub, I; “Fighting environmental racism: A selected annotated bibliography”; Brooklyn College Library;1996-1999 maintained by Clary-Meuser Associates; Retrieved on March 22, 2004 from http://www.mapcruzin.com

Environmental Racism in the U.S. and in the World: FACT SHEET By Amira Beaird

Environmental Racism in the U.S. and in the World: FACT SHEET
By Amira Beaird