Cumulative Exposure Key To Correcting Environmental Injustice

"Tackling cumulative exposures, rather than one pollutant at a time, is key to correcting environmental injustice, experts say. But progress remains too slow in the most affected neighborhoods."

"DETROIT — Theresa Landrum still has an emergency kit the Wayne County Department of Homeland Security gave her years ago when she asked the agency to help her community, which is surrounded by heavy industry, create an evacuation plan in the event of a chemical emergency.

"They gave us a little can, the size that tennis balls come in, and we thought it was a joke," said Landrum at a recent meeting at Detroit's New Mount Hermon Missionary Baptist Church. "They gave us a whistle, a bottle of water and a Band-Aid and a tiny, little flashlight."

"County and city officials advised the community to 'stay in place, take duct tape and plastic, and cover up every opening,'" Landrum continued. "

Meg Wilcox reports for Environmental Health News January 7, 2019.

Source: EHN, 01/07/2019