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Office of Minority Health Public Health Service U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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In This Issue: Landfill Prompts Concern in North Carolina Minority Health Perspective/Environmental Equity EPA's Office of Environmental Justice Misuse of Methyl Parathion Nominations Sought for Carcinogen Report Community Involvement in Hazardous Waste Issues NIAID Supports National Inner-City Asthmas Study Giving a Voice to AAPI Communities CDC Proposes New Lead Screening Guidelines Migrant Farmworkers Suffer from Pesticide Exposure Expansion of Brownfields Initiative Update on IHS Sanitation Facilities Initiative Mercury Poisoning Project Addresses Magio-Religious Uses CDC's National Center for Environmental Health Funding Opportunities Electric and Magnetic Fields Clearinghouse NIEHS Trains Young Adults Environmental Justice Resource Center Indoor Air Quality Information Clearinghouse Research Training in Environmental Sciences Conferences

Environmental Injustice? Landfill Prompts Concern in North Carolina or Massenberg Kearney, the worst part about living less than half a mile from a toxic waste landfill is the uncertainty. He knows that it can take years for the harmful effects of toxic waste exposure to show up. And as far as he knows, it’s not clear how much, if at all, his health is at risk. “There’s nothing I can really put my hands on,” he said. “When I have health problems or when a lot of my animals die, I do wonder if it has anything to do with the landfill.” Fifteen years have passed since the state of North Carolina constructed the landfill in Warren County. Not everyone there is concerned about it. But then there are those like Mr. Kearney who have questions: Is the landfill leaking? Is the health of my family in danger? What is the state doing to clean up the site? And why did the state choose my community to contain hazardous waste? The answers vary depending on who you ask, and therein lies a significant source of the frustration and confusion among some Warren County residents. “Sometimes it seems like we’re in the same place we were in 1982,” said Kearney, referring to when he marched in protests of the landfill. The controversy began in 1978 when oil contaminated with toxic chemicals called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was illegally dumped along more than 200 miles of road shoulders in 14 counties in North Carolina. State officials chose a site near the town of Afton to contain the more than 6,000 truckloads of toxic soil. Afton has a population of approximately 1600 and is 85 percent African American. The town is located at the southern end of Warren County, also mostly African American, and one of the poorest counties in North Carolina. Some believe these characteristics led Warren County to become the final choice as the disposal site. “When community members don’t have a lot of political and economic resources, it makes it harder to fight back,” said Ken Ferruccio, a community activist who lives near the landfill and had a major role in the protests. “The state was trying to follow the path of the least resistance.” But from the state’s perspective, the site near Afton was chosen because it was the most environmentally suitable. “We looked at 93 sites in 13 counties, and considered several factors in making a decision, such as the soil characteristics of the area and the population density--the site that would affect the least amount of people,” said Bill Meyer, director of the Division of Waste Management for North Carolina’s Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources. continued next page

Back to the Publications Page			Blake Crawford, Executive Editor Michelle Meadows, Managing Editor Jean Oxendine, Writer Becky Hardaway, Production Coordinator