Recorded presentation

Crystal M. James, JD, MPH, Crystal James and Associates, LLC, Tower Place 100, Suite 2150, 3340 Peachtree Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 30326, 404-926-3330, jamesllc@bellsouth.net

Environmental Justice has been broadly defined by Executive Order 12875 signed by President Clinton on February 11, 1994. This concept has been further defined by numerous agencies and communities to more closely describe the situations and objectives that are more closely tied to their issues. For this session we will be discussion this concept as defined in the Executive Order.

The legal system has been used as an effective tool to assist communities that have disproportionately been impacted by environmental contaminates. While this is not the only remedy available to those who suspect that they have been exposed and suffer some harm or damage pursuant to that exposure, it has created some guidelines as to the burdens and responsibilities of the industries that utilize products that may cause adverse health effects on the populations within and surrounding the communities where these facilities are sited.

Anniston, AL is a largely black and low-income community that was contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) by Solutia, Inc., a spin-off company of the giant Monsanto chemical company. The Sweet Valley/Cobb Town neighborhood residents organized themselves into a task force and filed a class action lawsuit against Monsanto for contaminating their community with PCBs. Monsanto manufactured PCBs from 1927 thru 1972 for use as insulation in electrical equipment including transformers. The EPA banned PCB production in the late 1970s amid questions of health risks.

Learning Objectives: This session will use the Anniston, AL case to discuss the following objectives

• discuss the impact of environmental insults in communities.
• discuss the disproportionate number of polluting industries in communities of color, and
• discuss the general rules and guidelines that have been established by common law decisions in this area.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences-- grant

Recorded presentation