Oral

Health is potentially influenced by a variety of social, economic, and environmental. These determinants of health are not uniformly spread across society, and this uneven distribution is linked to disparities in health and health risk that disproportionately affect people of color, low income populations, and economically or geographically isolated communities. Efforts to achieve environmental justice were inspired not just by disparities in environmental risks to health, but also by failures to fairly and meaningfully involve impacted groups in regulatory processes. As the Environmental Protection Agency affirms, environmental justice "will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work." This session will address many aspects of environmental justice. The opening presentation will report on a comprehensive effort by the city of Boston to address health disparities, with particular attention to the influence of the built environment and impacts of the environment on personal safety and access to healthy food. The following three presentations will describe efforts to address situations where a population or community was disproportionately impacted by environmental or workplace hazards. The final presentation compares strategies that have been used by industry groups to influence research efforts and the dissemination of research findings, to alter perceptions of environmental health risks.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe strategies to address environmental factors that contribute to health disparities. 2. Discuss the potential roles of collaborative partnerships in addressing environmental health risks. 3. Discuss ways in which groups with vested interests might attempt to influence environmental health research, and options to identify or monitor manipulative efforts.

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing