=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #94
—September 12, 1988—
News and resources for environmental justice.
——
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403
Fax (410) 263-8944; Internet: erf@igc.apc.org
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DOCTORS, GRASS ROOTS ACTIVISTS TO MEET, DISCUSS TOXIC EXPOSURES.
An important first-of-its-kind meeting will occur early next
month (Oct. 7 and 8) in New Orleans, LA. Grass roots activists
are urged to attend, but so are scientists and medical doctors.
It is the First Annual Scientific Assembly for Environmental
Health, and it represents a bold new departure by the grass roots
movement against toxics. For the first time ever, grass roots
activists have convened a medical conference to discuss toxic
exposures and what must be done about them.
With this conference, the grass roots movement ratchets up the
pressure on polluters, declares its independence from the medical
establishment, and begins to set its own agenda for the future.
The Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) and the American
Medical Association (AMA) had best pay close attention. Bob
Dylan said it: “Something is happening and you don’t know what it
is, do you, Mr. Jones?”
The grass roots movement against toxics gets its primary energy
from people who have become sick from chemicals. This is not
principally an environmental movement–it is a movement of people
fighting for their lives, fighting for their rights, fighting for
justice for themselves and for their children. If they happen to
save the whales in the bargain, so much the better. But that’s
not the main goal: the main goal is simple human health, a safe
home, good food and water, a fair shake for people and their
neighbors.
Many of the victims of modern chemistry are literally fighting
for their lives, and the lives of their children. They are real
human beings with real stories to tell. They are not “hysterical
housewives.” They are mothers of children with Hodgkin’s disease,
or leukemia or chronic bronchitis, or with chemical sensitivities
so bad they need to carry an oxygen tank to the supermarket. Or
they are people with emphysema or eczema or any of a hundred
other disabilities brought on by the chemicals spewed into our
homes, or workplaces, our schools by the “better living through
chemistry” mentality. Some are people who have a neighbor or a
friend whose life has been disrupted, in some cases, destroyed,
by toxic exposure. Their message is urgent and compelling and
simple: we want justice, an end to the pain, the suffering, the
carelessness and cruelty of the users and dumpers of toxic
chemicals.
As the nation’s use of chemicals increases at a steady 6 percent
per year, the ranks of the victims grow apace. Leaders like Lois
Gibbs, whose children were affected by chemicals dumped at Love
Canal, have given strength and a voice to victims who used to
think it was their own fault that they were sick. Or who were
content to remain silent in their rage. No more. The new
leaders have spawned other leaders and now nearly 5,000 groups of
citizens have spontaneously arisen across the country to protect
themselves from toxics. It is a movement without a name, though
we think of it as the Movement for Environmental Justice. It is
growing daily, and it is on the move. Industry calls it the NIMBY
movement (not in my back yard). But industry misses the point.
It is a NIABY movement–not in ANYONE’S back yard. No one should
be victimized by chemicals, this movement says. It is not
“chemophobia.” It is common sense.
The conference October 7 and 8 has been organized by Linda King,
who is on the staff of Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous
Waste’s (CCHW’s) southern office in Harvey, Louisiana. At 35,
Linda is, herself, a victim of chemical exposure. For several
years she lived in Nitro, West Virginia, in one of the most
polluted valleys in America. “You could tell what plants were
operating by the color of the sky-red, orange, brown, green, or
black,” she says, not joking. Linda believes her most serious
exposures came from releases from a chemical plant run by
Monsanto. “Some days you felt as if your lungs weighed 150
pounds,” she says. Since those days she has become increasingly
sensitive to all sorts of chemicals–she has developed allergic
reactions to food additives and home cleaning products and
industrial solvents in household water.
The general syndrome is called “ecological illness” or
“environmental illness.” It is a burgeoning field of medical
study, but the medical establishment (the AMA, for example) does
not recognize the existence of the syndrome. It took Linda King
five years to find a doctor who would treat her illness with
anything except tranquilizers, who would take her seriously and
try to understand her condition.
“The patient is victimized twice,” Linda says, “first by
industry, then by the medical establishment.” Most victims fall
silent, blame themselves, retire from life so to speak. But
increasingly, the victims are seeing that they can fight back.
One of Linda King’s ways of fighting back is to organize an
“awareness service” that she calls the PHYSICIANS CLEARINGHOUSE,
to provide news and information, a network for medical doctors
interested in ecological illness, and for victims. The service
costs $25 per year for professionals, and $15 per year for
non-professionals. Each month, Linda mails six to eight pages of
material from medical journals, to increase awareness of new
developments in the field. To subscribe, write: CCHW, P.O. Box
926, Arlington, VA 22216; (703) 276-7070.
The conference coming up Oct. 7 and 8 is aimed at two groups of
people: medical practitioners, and grass roots community leaders.
Two separate sets of workshops will be run for the two groups,
but there will be general sessions and social events where the
two groups can mingle. Enrollment is limited, so contact Linda
King at (504) 340-2321, or Jeff Daigle at (504) 9281315. Don’t
just show up unannounced; make sure there’s still space by
phoning ahead.
Anyone interested in ecological illness will want to read three
publications: (1) ECOLOGICAL ILLNESS LAW REPORT, edited by Earon
Davis, P.O. Box 6099, Evanston, IL 60091; phone (312) 256-3730;
$30/yr.; (2) THE REACTOR, edited by Susan Molloy, P.O. Box 575,
Corte Madera, CA 94925; phone (415) 924-5141; $20/yr ($10 for low
income) and (3) THE DELICATE BALANCE, edited by Mary Lamielle,
Environmental Health Association of New Jersey, 1100 Rural
Avenue, Voorhees, NJ 08043; phone (609) 429-5358. $15/yr ($10 for
low income, $20 for businesses). TEXT.. Note: Next week we’ll
continue our series on U.S. waste problems. “What we must do.”
In it, we are discussing waste haulers, waste producers, and,
finally, remedies.
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
Descriptor terms: physicians; citizen groups; environmentalists;
conferences; la; toxic exposures; exposure; chemical
manufacturing; chemical manufacturers association; cma; ama;
health; health statistics; disease statistics; hodgkin’s disease;
leukemia; cancer; bronchitis; chemical production; chemical
industry; lois gibbs; love canal; nimby; linda king; cchw;
monsanto; water; ecological illness; environmental illness;
physicians clearinghouse; jeff daigle; monsanto; environmental
illness;