Posted on 01/13/2011 9:02:36 AM PST by jazusamo
Complete title: EPA Handing Out Millions in Taxpayer Money to Study Combination of Pollution and Social Stressors in Poor Neighborhoods
(CNSNews.com) The Environmental Protection Agency is giving scientists at several universities $7 million in grants to study how pollution, in combination with stress and other social factors, affects people in poor and underserved communities.
At a symposium in Washington on Wednesday, Lisa Garcia, associate assistant administrator of environmental justice at the EPA, said the grant-funded studies will focus on some of the multiple stressors in communities. That includes examining the effects of chemicals, anxiety, poor nutrition, age, and traffic pollutants on childhood asthma rates, for example.
When these stressors are combined, they can lead to a much higher risk of health issues, the EPA said.
EPA studies generally are confined to single chemical effects, not to combinations of chemicals that people are exposed to outside the lab. And EPA studies rarely address social factors such as poverty and stress that can play a major role, the agency said.
The new study will look at a combination of harmful factors affecting human health in poor communities with pollution problems. As such, the grants really get to the heart of advancing environmental justice, Garcia said.
Although the results of the study will not be known for several years, the goal is to use the data to prevent the issuing of permits to industry and other polluting entities in areas that have been identified as "over-burdened," according to panelists at Wednesdays symposium.
As CNSNews.com has reported, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has made environmental justice a top priority for her agency. The EPA defines environmental justice as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people -- regardless of race, color, national origin, or income -- with respect to the development and enforcement of environmental laws and regulations.
Last year, the EPA made a public commitment to address disproportionate environmental health impacts, said Paul Anastas, assistant administrator for EPAs Office of Research and Development. This research could pave the way for more interdisciplinary work that is responsive to community concerns and environmental justice.
The $7 million in grants, to be distributed through 2014, will go to a study, portions of which are being conducted at the following universities, including one in Taiwan:
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York; University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; University of Texas School of Public Health; National Chiao-Tung University; University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center; Boston University; University of Texas School of Public Health; University of North Carolina; University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston; and Harvard School of Public Health, Channing Laboratory.
An appointive agency of the state of WA agreed to purchase a working gravel mine and dock facility for $100 million, for the sole purpose of shutting it down, eliminating jobs and tax revenue. The outrage over the expenditure resulted in a renegotiation of the price, down to $83 million.
First, if I sat down with tablet and crayons to draw a picture of an "... associate assistant administrator of environmental justice at the EPA, ..." the result would look just like that picture of Lisa Garcia.
Second, the main 'social stressor' in my community is the EPA. I am sure it is in every community where they have much of a presence.
That sounds like something that would happen in our leftist Capitol. I get so disgusted with the libs in this state I could scream at times.
I hear you and you’re right.
Waste? Are you kidding? He’s buying votes, votes of all those green activist groups, colleges and universities, where this green garbage is propagated.
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