building community networks for environmental health

Building Community Networks for Environmental Health

JANET A. PHOENIXa Manager, Public Health Programs

National Safety Council 1025 Connecticut Avenue, N. W., Suite 1200

Washington, D. C. 20036

BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN RESEARCHERS AND AFFECTED POPULATIONS

All too often researchers in environment, health, and related disciplines engage upon research in the absence of meaningful input from communities, populations, and individuals who are directly affected by that research. By meaningful input, I mean involving those who are affected by the problem during the research planning phase. Research and the ultimate health of the communities we study depend upon the creation of a collaboration between academic institutions and communities. Com- munities know their needs and know what is acceptable to them. There are norms of behavior that every group uses to define acceptable and unacceptable behavior. When someone from the outside comes in, an acknowledgment of the existence of these norms is incumbent upon the outsider. A listening and observing process must take place in order for understanding and mutual agreement upon goals to occur.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

When we work on environmental health issues in communities of color and in low-income communities, we are working on issues of environmental justice. One definition of environmental justice refers to the effort to preserve the planet by combating disproportionate impacts of pollution on people of color and low income communities. Another term commonly used to describe what currently exists in many communities is environmental racism. Environmental racism is defined as racial discrimination in environmental policy-making and the enforcement of regulations and laws, the deliberate targeting of communities of people of color for toxic waste facilities, the official sanctioning of the life-threatening presence of poisons and pollutants in our communities, and the history of excluding people of color from leadership in the environmental movement. Whatever definition of choice one uses, it is important to acknowledge that without inclusion of affected populations any efforts to do work to improve environmental conditions in communities of color can be viewed as illegitimate. This is the essence of a commitment to public participation.

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EXISTING ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH NETWORKS

Geographic and ethnic environmental justice networks have been organized around the country to coordinate the efforts of small grassroots organizations and to provide networking opportunities and manage campaigns focused on specific environmental justice issues. These include but are not limited to the Southwest Network for Economic and Environmental Justice, The Asian and Pacific Islander Environmental Network, the Southern Organizing Committee for Environmental and Economic Justice, the Indigenous Environmental Justice Network, and the Northeast Environmental Justice Network. Some of these organizations have collaborated with academic institutions to conduct training and research activities.

MODELS OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE RESEARCH

I hope these remarks have served to provide a model of collaboration that can be used to build a credible and valuable program of environmental research at any institution. First and foremost is the notion of involvement of affected community members from the outset as the research project or program is planned. Second is the notion of community-driven priorities and benefits that should be derived from the research undertaking. Third is the notion of ongoing work with organizations that have a track record of working in the affected communities on issues that they have identified as priorities. While this may sound simple, accomplishing it may be more difficult than imagined. This model was put into effect in the Aquesasne nation in upstate New York. Native American midwives who were concerned about a nearby dioxin-producing facility contacted researchers at the State University of New York. The midwives wanted to know whether dioxin contamination in breast milk was linked to an increasing number of birth defects they were observing in newborns. Thus a collaboration was born that led to an ATSDR-funded research project in which the principal investigator is a Native American woman.

A less favorable example is the legacy left by a research project undertaken by the State of California's Department of Health. They studied lead contamination in soil, paint, and drinking water and obtained blood samples in three California counties. One of these counties was Alameda, which contained the East Oakland community just outside San Francisco. When residents learned of the study, they asked for the results to be released. Initially the State was reluctant to share the information with community residents. Only when the community organized around the issue and began to demonstrate at local hospitals, demanding routine lead screening for their children, did the situation improve and official test results were made available. It soon became clear that despite myths to the contrary, lead poisoning was very much alive in Oakland, California and in other areas of the state as well. The response of the community to what was perceived as an effort to withhold information from them concerning their welfare and the welfare of their children led to a lawsuit forcing the inclusion of routine lead screening in the Early Periodic Screening Detection and Treatment Program (EPSDT) under federal Medicaid law. While gains were made for the nation's poor children, trust that could have developed between researchers and community members was permanently damaged.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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A Time for Discourse. Westview Press. Boulder, CO.