Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #116504

Cipriana Jurado, Centro de Investigacion de Soledad Obrero (CISO)/Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (SNEEJ), P.O. Box 7399, Albuquerque, NM 87194, 505.242.0416, msbianca@sneej.org

For the past few decades, Mexico has witnessed the extreme growth of the maquiladora (twin plant) industry. Thousands of U.S. and Japanese corporations have relocated to Mexico, where they have contributed to environmental contamination resulting in toxic waste sites, unsafe working conditions and polluted waterways which plague the region and impact the surrounding poor communities where they live, work, play, pray, and study.

This presentation will discuss the organizing efforts, popular health and environmental education techniques, and environmental and occupational health trainings taking place with communities and workers through the work of CISO and SNEEJ. These goals of these grassroots organizing campaigns include instituting pollution prevention/precautionary policies, the environmental clean up of contaminated sites, the monitoring and reduction of air pollutants and the improvement of overall public health to eliminate the health disparities along the Mexico/U.S. border.

In addition, the presentation will look at the history and work of SNEEJ and CISO along the Mexico/U.S. border by highlighting the successes and challenges of working in collaborative partnerships to develop trainings and educational materials from a grassroots community based perspective. The models used by the SNEEJ/Environmental Law Institute and the SNEEJ/Labor Occupational Health Program in the development and implementation of trainings addressing environmental health participants will highlight useful strategies.

Learning Objectives:

• To discuss the historical grassroots environmental health and justice organizing and research initiatives conducted by the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (SNEEJ) along the U.S./Mexico border.
• To discuss case examples of successful and unique collaborative partnerships with the Environmental Law Institute and the Labor Occupation Health Program and the implementation of trainings around environmental health, environmental laws, workers rights, and hazards.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.