Resources

» Resources for Fenceline Communities
» Resources for Information on Carcinogens
» Government Agencies
» State of Michigan Agencies
» U.S. Government Agencies, Programs and Laws
» International Organizations
» Non-Governmental Organizations

Resources for Fenceline Communities

Steve Lerner, in his books, Sacrifice Zones: The Front Lines of Toxic Chemical Exposure in the United States, and Diamond: A Struggle for Environmental Justice in Louisiana’s Chemical Corridor, describes the experiences of people living on the fenceline of industries that fowl their air and water, causing sickness and death. In each of the communities that he documents, residents have become advocates for their right to clean air and water, often with help from advocacy groups from outside of their communities. They learn to organize, keep logs of the dates and times that they experience emissions from a nearby plant, match their findings with official government-mandated records of emissions, obtain air monitors to take their own air samples, record their health symptoms and dates and times that they occur, match school attendance and hospital visit records with the timing of emissions, and use public meetings and media reports to get the community involved. Community involvement is the key to pressuring the government to enforce environmental laws and pressuring the industries to invest in equipment to reduce the emissions, clean up contaminated soils, or, in extreme cases, relocate the families being impacted by their pollution.

In many cases people living in fenceline communities are members of a minority group or have low incomes, so the term Environmental Justice applies. According to Greanpeace:

“Environmental Justice guarantees that all people have equal access to a healthy, safe, and sustainable environment, as well as equal protection from environmental harm” (par 2).

Aside from a small number of residents of the White Lake area that opposed the siting of Hooker Chemical on a formerly residential property in the 1950s, newspaper reports of that decade paint a picture of a mostly white community welcoming the industry for the promise of economic opportunities and growth. Indeed, new subdivisions were built, and school attendance and church membership grew during this period. Environmental justice was not considered in connection with fenceline communities at that time and, as noted previously, environmental laws were just emerging.

Yet, the stories told by the people of the White Lake area about the pollution they experienced (see Industrial Exposures) remind me of the stories that have been told in accounts of fenceline communities (see Lerner, Billott, Fagin, and Markowitz & Rosner) in which many people are forced to live and raise their children in neighborhoods with unhealthy air and contaminated water because they lack resources to either confront the polluters or move away.

I want to recognize people that are currently living in fenceline communities by mentioning a few resources:

“ATSDR can use environmental health tools to investigate possible exposure pathways in your community. This means, investigate 1) whether there are chemicals in your community, 2) if those chemicals could get into your body, and 3) if they could affect your health. We can write a report and recommend actions to protect health” (par 4).

  • Citizens may use the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) to find Air and Water Emissions information for their community, as follows:

Go to TRI Basic Data Files: Calendar Years 1987- Present, find the most recent year (or any year since 1987), use the up-down arrows to select your state, then click Download. The spreadsheet will be downloaded to your computer. Open the spreadsheet, then sort by column F (header title “6. City”) to arrange the cities alphabetically. (Freeze the header row so that when you have scrolled down to your city you will still see the headings of each column.) Any TRI industry associated with your city will be listed in column D (“4. Facility Name”) in rows that contain your city’s name. Chemicals and compounds will be listed in column AH (“34. Chemical”), with information such as carcinogenicity noted in subsequent columns. Then, columns AV, AW and AX will list the number of pounds of each chemical or compound that were released through Fugitive Air, Stack Air, or Water in your selected year.

  • The federal Clean Air Act (CAA) (1970, amendments in 1977 and 1990) requires that each state maintain an inventory of air pollution emissions for certain facilities and update this inventory every year. For example:

Michigan’s emission inventory is collected annually using the Michigan Air Emissions Reporting System (MAERS). Citizens may use the Emissions Inventory Source and Emissions Query Tool to search for total annual emissions by facility. As of 2022, data are available for 1999 through 2020. Citizens may select the year and the county for which they want information and can narrow their search by entering the name of a city. Results show the names of reporting facilities and details about their total emissions for that calendar year.

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade partners with fenceline communities, providing their air sampling buckets and help to learn how to document pollution and reach out to the media.

Is a Health Study the Answer for Your Community? mentions New York City students who put monitors on their backpacks to measure diesel exposure (p. 46).

The EPA’s Enhanced Air Quality Monitoring for Communities Grants Program will provide communities with air pollution monitors, giving residents the power to have their air tested for harmful contaminants.

And, air monitoring is becoming high-tech!

Also, personal, hand-held air pollution detectors are now on the market that can test for particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, and nitrogen dioxide.

Trevor’s Law was introduced in 2011 to help communities determine whether there is a connection between clusters of cancer, birth defects and other diseases, and contaminants in the surrounding environment. In 2016, Trevor’s law became a provision of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (see Section 21), an amendment to the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. (Although the American Cancer Society estimates that “about 1,000 suspected cancer clusters are reported to state health departments each year” (par 1), a news report in 2021 claimed that there have been no new guidelines on how to respond to possible cancer clusters and no investigations on the federal level as a result.)

  • It is encouraging that in 2022, the EPA released its proposal for new screening level methodology to evaluate potential chemical exposures and risks to fenceline communities in toxic chemicals risk evaluations. This is intended to increase the agency’s ability “to evaluate exposures to potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations, including fenceline communities that are near industrial facilities and may be disproportionately exposed to chemicals over long periods of time” (par 2).

Resources for Information on Carcinogens

The following resources about carcinogens show that we are making some progress on identifying what chemicals/agents in our environment are, or are likely to be, carcinogenic. We are also learning more about the types of cancers and other health effects that have been linked to exposures to these hazards.

Government Agencies

The agencies and organizations that are tasked with and working on connecting the dots between environmental hazards and cancer are presented here in outline form to try to understand their connections with one another. Dates that each law or agency was created and amended are listed (when known) to help us understand how recently these programs either came into being or were updated to add power to their stated mission. In many cases these environmental protection and enforcement laws were created after the pollution had occurred that had endangered the Great Lakes in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s.

The government agency lists below are not official lists (there may be errors with respect to their connections to other agencies) yet a quick glance at these lists will illustrate the large number of agencies involved. We need everyone, from those in science and technology fields to those committed to creating and enforcing laws. And we as citizen scientists need to educate ourselves and take action to protect our own health and the health of others.

State of Michigan Agencies

I. Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). The divisions of EGLE work together to investigate and oversee the cleanup of contaminated sites, monitor our air and water quality, oversee compliance and enforcement of laws, advocate for citizens having concerns with contamination, and more. Citizens may follow links within the listed divisions to find details about their work, as well as organizational charts.

II. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

A. The Michigan Environmental Health Tracking Program (MiTracking) [funded by CDC 2014, launched 2017]: gathers existing Michigan-specific environmental and health data and provides them in one online location.

B. Cancer Prevention and Control Section

C. Cancer Epidemiology

D. Michigan Cancer Surveillance Program

E. Cancer Statistics

U.S. Government Agencies, Programs and Laws

I. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [1970]

A. Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) (also, Basic Information on Enforcement)

1.Clean Air Act (CAA) [1970, 1977, 1990] (also, Evolution of the Clean Air Act)

2. Clean Water Act (CWA) [Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 was reorganized and expanded in 1972 to become the CWA] (also, History of the Clean Water Act), and Safe Drinking Water ACT (SDWA) [1974] (also, Overview of the Safe Drinking Water Act)

3. Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO): search for facilities in your community to assess their compliance with environmental regulations, including monitoring of air, water, hazardous waste, and drinking water.

4. Waste, Chemical, and Cleanup Enforcement: a variety of waste, chemical and cleanup laws [includes RCRA 1976, CERCLA 1980, EPCRA 1986, FIFRA 1996] (also, Learn about Corrective Action)

B. Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP)

1. The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) [1976]: reporting, record-keeping and testing requirements and restrictions relating to chemical substances and/or mixtures. The Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act 2016 amendment includes a mandatory requirement for EPA to evaluate existing chemicals with clear and enforceable deadlines.

C. The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) [1986]: provides communities with information about toxic chemical releases from industrial facilities. (also see TRI Basic Data Files: Calendar Years 1987- Present).

D. National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) [1990]: EPA’s evaluation of air toxics in the U.S., provides downloadable assessment results of cancer risk by source group and by pollutant, and an interactive 2017 NATA Map.

E. EPA Grants opportunities, such as the Enhanced Air Quality Monitoring for Communities (2022) grant that would allow eligible entities to conduct ambient air monitoring of pollutants of greatest concern in communities with environmental and health outcome disparities stemming from pollution.

F. The Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Program is located within EPA’s Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment (CPHEA) in the Office of Research and Development (ORD). IRIS lists chemicals and notes whether or not they have been tested for oral exposure, inhalation exposure, and carcinogenity.

II. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) [1980, after separating from the 1953 Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare] is the lead agency protecting the health of U.S. citizens. Its mission is to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans. HHS has 11 operating divisions. Some of the agencies of importance to cancer prevention and their respective services of interest are as follows:

A. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) [1980]: protects communities from harmful health effects related to exposure to natural and man-made hazardous substances, including conducting research on the health impacts of hazardous waste sites.

1. Toxic Substances Portal: information about toxic substances and how they affect our health.

2. Toxicological Profiles: compilation of toxicological information on a given hazardous substance.

3. Division of Community Health Investigations (DCHI): works to reduce people’s exposures to toxic substances in the environment. An individual or a community group may petition the ATSDR to investigate specific environmental health concerns in a community.

4. Health Effects Research: Data Resources include the National Toxic Substance Incidents Program (NTSIP) and the World Trade Center Health Registry (WTC Health Registry).

5. The Division of Toxicology and Human Health Sciences (DTHHS): integrates epidemiology, environmental medicine, and toxicology. This includes investigating the relationships between exposures to hazardous substances and adverse health effects.

6. Taking an Exposure History: a self-instructional module designed to increase the primary care provider’s knowledge of exposures to hazardous substances and to promote medical practices that aid in the evaluation and care of potentially exposed patients.

B. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [1946]: works to protect America from health, safety, and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same.

1. The National Program of Cancer Registries (NCPR) [1992]: collects data on cancer occurrence (including the type, extent, and location of the cancer), the type of initial treatment, and outcomes.

2. The U.S. Cancer Statistics (USCS): combines data from NCPR and SEER, providing information on newly diagnosed cancer cases and cancer deaths for the whole U.S. population.

3. The National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (NCCCP) [1998]: has provided the funding, guidance, and technical assistance that programs use to design and implement impactful, strategic, and sustainable plans to prevent and control cancer.

4. The National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (Tracking Program) [2002]: collects, integrates, and analyzes non-infectious disease and environmental data, with the purpose of delivering information and data to protect the nation from health issues arising from or directly related to environmental factors. The National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (Tracking Network) [2006]: brings together health data and environment data from national, state, and city sources and provides supporting information to make the data easier to understand. The Tracking Network has data and information on environmental health topics, and population health.”

5. The National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) [1980]: plans, directs, and coordinates a program to protect the American people from environmental hazards.

6. The National Biomonitoring Program (NBP) [1999]: Operated by CDC’s Division of Laboratory Sciences, NBP assesses people’s exposure to chemicals that may be toxic and responds to environmental health issues. This involves measuring environmental chemicals or their breakdown products in human tissues and fluids, such as blood and urine. The program’s “National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals and Updated Tables” provides cumulative exposure information since 1999.

7. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) [1970]: conducts research to reduce worker illness and injury and advance worker well-being. This includes tracking work-related hazards, exposures, illnesses, and injuries for prevention.

C. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) [1887]: Related to cancer, NIH conducts and supports research in the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and cure of human diseases and in the biological effects of environmental contaminants.

1. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) [1937]: leads, conducts, and supports cancer research across the nation to advance scientific knowledge and help all people live longer, healthier lives.

a) The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) [1973]: provides information on cancer statistics in an effort to reduce the cancer burden among the U.S. population.

b) The Cancer Moonshot program [2016]: seeks to accelerate scientific discovery in cancer, foster greater collaboration, and improve the sharing of data. Cancer Moonshot [2021]: seeks to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years and improve the experience of people and their families living with and surviving cancer.

2. The National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (NCCCP) [1998]: provides the funding, guidance, and technical assistance that programs use to design and implement impactful, strategic, and sustainable plans to prevent and control cancer.

3. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) [1966]: seeks to discover how the environment affects people in order to promote healthier lives.

4. The All of Us Research Program (All of Us) [2018]: enrolling one million or more participants to build one of the world’s largest and most diverse databases for health research. All Of Us aims to conduct Precision Medicine research, using a vast array of technologies to integrate environmental exposures, genetic factors, and lifestyle factors to learn ways to prevent diseases and develop better treatments. (See the 2015 Precision Medicine Working Group report.)

D. HHH Interagency Program

1. The National Toxicology Program (NTP) [1978]: evaluates agents of public health concern by applying tools of modern toxicology and molecular biology and works to identify potentially hazardous substances and evaluate their effects for human health. NTP is an interagency program whose executive committee is composed of the heads, or designated representatives, of nine federal agencies.

III. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) [1913]: As an organization with diverse functions, the U.S. Department of Labor carries out its mission through a number of offices and agencies.

A. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) [1970]: mission is to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women. (OSHA’s role is enforcement of guidelines recommended by NIOSH.)

International Organizations

I. The North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) [1987]: NAACR is a collaborative umbrella organization for cancer registries, governmental agencies, professional associations, and private groups in North America interested in enhancing the quality and use of cancer registry data. All central cancer registries in the United States and Canada are members.

II. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) [1965]: the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO) [1948]. The objective of the IARC is to promote international collaboration in cancer research.

III. The International Association of Cancer Registries (IACR) [1966]: a professional society dedicated to fostering the aims and activities of cancer registries worldwide. The International Classification of Diseases for Oncology (ICD-O) is the universal coding system used by cancer registrars.

Non-Governmental Organizations

  • Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) [2002]: focuses on how environmental risks can impact human health. By informing and connecting affected and interested groups, CHE hopes to build a groundswell of demand for prevention-focused behaviors and policies, as well as economic and legal structures that protect public health.
  • Community Action Works (1987): works side by side with everyday people in Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island to confront those who are polluting and harming the health of their communities.
  • Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) [2013 or earlier]: a national network of grassroots Environmental and Economic Justice organizations and advocates in communities that are disproportionately impacted by toxic chemicals from legacy contamination, ongoing exposure to polluting facilities, and health-harming chemicals in household products.
  • Environmental Working Group (EWG) [1993]: empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. With breakthrough research and education, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
  • Greenpeace [1971]: a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
  • Louisiana Bucket Brigade [2000]: uses grassroots action to hold the petrochemical industry and government accountable for the true costs of pollution. Works to create an informed, healthy society that hastens the transition from fossil fuels.
  • National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) [1973]: supports cancer research and public education relating to the prevention, early diagnosis, better treatments and, ultimately, a cure for cancer.
  • Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) [1970]: fights for every person’s right to clean air, clean water, and a healthy community.
  • Prevention is the Cure (PITC) A campaign by the Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition, Inc. (HBCAC): seeks to increase public awareness of environmental links to disease, gain support for the “Precautionary Principle” as it applies to public policy, urge the public to demand more funding for environmental health research, and encourage a “better safe than sorry” attitude toward personal lifestyle.
  • Silent Spring Institute [1994]: a mission-driven scientific research organization dedicated to uncovering the environmental causes of breast cancer.
  • Toxic-Free Future (TFF) [1981] was joined by Safer Chemicals Healthy Families [2009] in 2020. TFF advocates for the use of safer products, chemicals, and practices through advanced research, grassroots organizing, and consumer engagement.
  • Whitepages [1997] meets customer’s needs by providing information designed to help them stay connected, protected, and make informed decisions. Whitepages helped us with contact information during our survey period from 2009-2013.
  • World Resources Institute (WRI) [1982]: a global nonprofit organization that works with leaders in government, business, and civil society to research, design, and carry out practical solutions that simultaneously improve people’s lives and ensure nature can thrive. In 2020, WRI published a guidebook, “A Community Action Toolkit: A Roadmap for Using Environmental Rights to Fight Pollution.”