Environmental justice: frequency and severity of US chemical industry accidents and the socioeconomic status of surrounding communities
Study objectives: The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 requires that chemical facilities in the US with specified quantities of certain toxic or flammable chemicals file a five year history of accidents. This study considers the relation between the reported accidents and surrounding community chara...
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Published in | Journal of epidemiology and community health (1979) Vol. 58; no. 1; pp. 24 - 30 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
London
BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
01.01.2004
BMJ Publishing Group BMJ BMJ Publishing Group LTD BMJ Group |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Study objectives: The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 requires that chemical facilities in the US with specified quantities of certain toxic or flammable chemicals file a five year history of accidents. This study considers the relation between the reported accidents and surrounding community characteristics. Design: This study is a retrospective analysis of the association between the demographics of counties in which facilities are located and the risk of accidental chemical release and resulting injuries at those facilities. The “location risk” (the risk that a facility having large volumes of hazardous chemicals is located in a community) and “operations risk” (the risk of an accident itself) are investigated. Setting:1994–2000 accident history data from 15 083 US industrial facilities using one or more of 140 flammable or toxic substances above a threshold level. Demographic makeup of 2333 counties surrounding these facilities was determined from the 1990 US census. Main results: Larger and more chemical intensive facilities tend to be located in counties with larger African-American populations and in counties with both higher median incomes and high levels of income inequality. Even after adjusting for location risk there is greater risk of accidents for facilities in heavily African-American counties (OR of accident = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.5 to 2.4). Conclusions: Further research and policy interventions are required to reduce the probability of locating facilities in an inequitable fashion, as well as health surveillance, and regulatory monitoring and enforcement activities to ensure that hazardous facilities in minority communities prepare and prevent accidental chemical releases to the same standards as elsewhere. |
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Bibliography: | PMID:14684723 Correspondence to: Dr M R Elliott Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 612 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; melliott@cceb.upenn.edu istex:51B0D9EDA4A95FBEB4B4A9FDAF3FD66BC714D0B2 ark:/67375/NVC-ZG0X4C27-W local:0580024 href:jech-58-24.pdf |
ISSN: | 0143-005X 1470-2738 |
DOI: | 10.1136/jech.58.1.24 |