=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY #417
—November 24, 1994—
News and resources for environmental justice.
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BIG-PICTURE ORGANIZING–PART 1:
SOME GOOD NEWS AMID THE BAD
First the Good News
Since 1975, grass-roots action at the local level has brought
important successes. It was grass-roots action that killed the
civilian nuclear power industry in the U.S., principally by
making radioactive waste disposal difficult and therefore
expensive, and by turning every nuclear power plant into a fight
and therefore into a public relations nightmare for its
electric-utility owner.
Grass-roots action at the local level crippled the municipal
solid waste incinerator industry. Since 1985, 70 incinerators
were built, but during the same period at least 280 incinerators
were killed. [1]The municipal incinerator industry is on the
ropes.
Grass-roots action killed expansion of the industry that buries
hazardous wastes in shallow pits in the ground. Since BFI opened
the appropriately-named “Last Chance” dump in Colorado in 1991,
no new hazardous waste dumps have even been proposed. (After
getting a license for its “Last Chance” dump, BFI abandoned the
hazardous waste dump business entirely.)
Most importantly, grass-roots action forced the International
Joint Commission (IJC) to recommend an entirely new philosophy of
chemical regulation –one that assumes chemicals are harmful
until proven safe, and one based on the principle of
precautionary action. The precautionary principle says that, to
avoid irreparable harm to the environment and to human health,
wherever it is acknowledged that a practice (or substance) could
cause harm, even without conclusive scientific proof that it has
caused harm or does cause harm, the practice (or emissions of the
substance) should be prevented and eliminated. (U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency in 1994 rejected the IJC’s
recommendations, but the handwriting is on the wall now,
officially.) [2]
And Now the Bad
Despite these important successes, chemicals released into the
environment are still decimating wildlife, making people sick,
and killing people. In this sense, despite thousands of
successes in local battles, grass-roots activists are losing the
war.
Consider these facts:
** The incidence rates for 5 kinds of cancers are decreasing, but
the incidence rates for 19 kinds of cancer are steadily
increasing. The death rates for 12 kinds of cancer are dropping,
but the deaths rates for 12 other cancers continue to rise. [3]
Among the fastest-growing is breast cancer. In 1960, a woman’s
chance of getting breast cancer was 1 in 20; today it is 1 in 9,
moving toward 1 in 8.
** Increasingly, couples in their prime child-bearing years are
sterile; this may be due in part to a 53% decline in sperm count
that has been documented among men in all industrialized
countries over the past 50 years, a decline that is apparently
continuing. [4]
** Ectopic pregnancy rates have quadrupled in the last 20
years. [5] An ectopic pregnancy is one that occurs outside the
uterus, in one of the fallopian tubes; if not treated, such a
pregnancy is fatal to the mother. Even when treated properly, it
can result in sterility.
** The prevalence of endometriosis (a painful disease of the
tissues lining the uterus, which often results in sterility) is
steadily increasing and now afflicts somewhere between 5 and 9
million American women; [6]
** Immune system disorders (such as asthma and diabetes) are
increasing. In 1990 the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL
ASSOCIATION (JAMA) observed that death rates from asthma have
been increasing in the U.S., Canada, England, France, Denmark and
Germany. [7] Other sources report increasing death rates from
asthma in Wales and Australia. [8] In the U.S., the increase has
been rapid. Asthma death rates increased 31% between 1980 and
1987 (from 1.3 per 100,000 population to 1.7 per 100,000). The
biggest increase occurred among children between the ages of 5
and 15.
The prevalence of asthma is also increasing, especially among
young children. Among children ages 6 to 11, the prevalence of
asthma increased from 4.8% in 1971-74 to 7.6% in 1976-1980, a 58%
increase in a short period. More recent studies indicate that
the increases are continuing.
Another immune system disease, diabetes, is also increasing
rapidly in the U.S. The prevalence of IDDM (insulin-dependent
diabetes mellitus, also called Type I diabetes) doubled between
1964 and 1981. [9] A 1993 study says, “[W]e are undergoing an
epidemic of IDDM with the rapid increase in the number of cases
seen recently.” [10]
** The prevalence of nervous system disorders (Lou Gehrig’s
disease, and Parkinson’s disease) is increasing; [11]
** A new disease has emerged called “multiple chemical
sensitivity,” characterized by extreme sensitivity to low levels
of various chemicals, sometimes including odors from new carpets,
perfumes, and the fragrances in commercial products such as waxes
and detergents. Paints and solvents can set off an allergic-type
reaction. Symptoms of MCS range in severity from an itchy rash
to coma. An estimated 10% to 15% of the U.S. population now
suffers from this disease in one form or another, and the
prevalence appears to be rising. [12]
** Birth defect rates are steadily increasing. The federal
Centers for Disease Control in 1990 summarized the trends in 38
types of birth defects; they found 29 increasing, 2 decreasing,
and 7 remaining unchanged. [13]
** Eight studies of air pollution in U.S. cities have now shown
that fine particles (the invisible soot emitted by incinerators,
automobiles, power plants and heating units) are presently
killing about 60,000 Americans each year. [14] More than a dozen
studies have, in one way or another, confirmed this relationship.
Furthermore, there appears to be no threshold, no level below
which effects disappear. This means that people are being killed
by air pollution levels well within existing federal standards.
** In 1990, the American Public Health Association (APHA)
estimated that each year 50,000 to 70,000 Americans die of
diseases developed from toxic exposures on the job. Furthermore,
APHA estimated that 350,000 new cases of occupational disease
develop each year from toxic exposures. [15]
Good News Amid the Bad
It seems clear that the opportunity is ripe, and steadily
growing, for a major political organizing campaign with health as
the centerpiece. Everyone cares about their health and the health
of their children. A health-centered organizing campaign offers
a clear entryway into the much larger question, “What has gone
wrong with America?” Addressing this question would require what
we call “Big-Picture Organizing.”
[To be continued.]
                
                
                
                
    
–Peter Montague
===============
[1] Ellen Connett, “Since the 1980’s a Minimum of 280 Proposals
to Build Municipal Waste Incinerators in the U.S. Have Been
Defeated or Abandoned,” WASTE NOT #283 [from: Work On Waste,
U.S.A., 82 Judson St., Canton, N.Y. 13617: phone 315/379-9200]
(July 1994), pg. 1. The 280 figure is an underestimate; several
incinerators have been defeated since July 1994, according to
Ellen Connett, personal communication to Maria Pellerano November
22, 1994.
Descriptor terms: grass-roots citizen action; civilian nuclear
power; municipal solid waste incineration; msw; landfilling;
dumps; hazardous waste; ijc; regulation; reverse onus; burden of
proof; precautionary principle; principle of precationary action;
wildlife; human health; morbidity; mortality; studies;
statistics; cancer; breast cancer; sterility; reproductive
disorders; ectopic pregnancies; tubal pregnancies; endometriosis;
immune system disorders; diabetes mellitus; type I diabetes;
asthma; nervous system disorders; lou gehrig’s disease;
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; parkinson’s disease; multiple
chemical sensitivity; mcs; birth defects; air pollution; fine
particles; apha; american public health association; occupational
safety and health;