### Onyemaechi Nweke, DrPH Devon Payne-Sturges, DrPH Office of Environmental Justice Office of Research and US EPA Development/National Center for Environmental Research US EPA **Informational Briefing to the National**  **Advisory Council for Environmental**  **Policy and Technology (NACEPT)**

**May 25 2010**

1

###  

# Provide background on aspects of the scientific approach to integrate EJ considerations into EPA decisions.  

# Provide brief overview of recently concluded science Symposium  

# Summarize recommendations from EPA Symposium and next steps

2

## Federal Actions **to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations**  **and Low Income Populations** “To the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law....each federal agency shall make achieving environmental justice part of its mission by **identifying and addressing**  as appropriate, **disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects**  of its programs, policies, and activities on **minority and low**

**income populations** .....” 3

###  

# One of Administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s priorities is to “ **Expand the conversation on environmentalism**  **and working for environmental**  **justice**” by:

 Including environmental justice (EJ) in **all** of EPA’s decisions.

4

# Regulatory Development  

# Integrate EJ into regulatory development process.  Where in the process?  How to analytically incorporate EJ 

###  

# Integrate equity considerations into policy choices that evolve from the process.

5

###  

# Develop a science- based approach for consistently identifying disproportionately impacted minority and low income populations.

6

###  

# Activity 1 : Identify factors that are associated with disparities in environmental health among minority, low income and tribal populations.  

# Activity 2: Develop critical science reviews on the contribution of these factors to disparities in environmental health among minority, low income and tribal populations.  

# Activity 3: Science and policy Symposium 78

### 1. 

## Proximity to pollution sources 2. 

## Unique exposure pathways 3. 

## Multiple and cumulative exposures and impacts 4. 

## Physical Infrastructure 5. 

## Diminished capacity to participate in decision making Source: Lee, Charles. 2005. Environmental Justice. In: Environmental Health: From Global to Local, (Howard Frumkin, ed ). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 170-194 

### 6. 

## Psychosocial Stress 9

## WHO (2006). Principles for Evaluating Health Risks in Children.

Environmental Health Criteria 237.

 “a matrix of **physical, chemical, biological, social, and cultural factors** that result in certain communities and subpopulations being more susceptible to environmental factors because of **greater exposure** to such factors or **a compromised ability to cope with and/or recover**  from such exposure.”

10**Source:** Morello- Frosch, R. and Shenassa, E.D. (2003). The Environmental Riskscape and

Social Inequality: Implications for Maternal and Child Health Disparities. EHP 114(8):1150-1153. 11 Several studies suggest a higher prevalence of minority and low income populations near pollution sources such as landfills, hazardous waste facilities, industrial complexes, etc.  Proximity to hazards can affect disparities in both exposure and ability to cope or recover from exposure.  UCC (2007): After controlling for socioeconomic factors, race remains a robust predictor of the location of commercial hazardous waste facilities in the United States.

12 

### Cultural practices, community activities or behaviors that are unique. These activities may lead to :
 Exposures to hazards, where other groups in the population are unexposed;  Exposure to higher levels of environmental hazards 

###  

## Subsistence fish or shellfish harvesting in contaminated local waters for consumption e.g. Hmong, African American and Latino anglers

13 

### Multiple sources, higher pollution burden, more likely to experience exposure to multiple chemical stressors.
 UCC (2007): Neighborhoods with clustered facilities have statistically significantly higher percentages of African Americans compared to neighborhoods with non -clustered facilities.  

### Additive or synergistic interactions--  higher risks of adverse health impacts or more severe health outcomes.  Interactions could also occur between chemical and non -chemical stressors (e.g. noise, psychosocial stress) to exacerbate risk.

14 Housing conditions – overcrowding, deteriorated lead based paint, mold, pest infestation, heating and air conditioning, physically unstable structures/safety issues, etc
 Gaitens et al. (2009):  Higher income is a significant predictor of lower floor lead dust levels in U.S.  Klitzman et al. (2005)  96% of sampled homes in a low income neighborhood in Brooklyn had multiple environmental hazards – lead based paint, vermin, mold, safety hazards  

### Neighborhood/community resources or lack thereof:  Lack of resources and services to promote or maintain healthy lifestyles e.g. access to healthy foods, safe environments for walking.
 Lack of access to community sanitation and water systems, etc
 Gatto et al. (2009)  Consumption of private well water in rural California is statistically significantly associated with increased odds of Parkinson’s disease Source: EHP 113(5): A310 -317 15

###  

## An effect modifier?

 Glass et al. (2009): Neighborhood psychosocial hazards exacerbate the adverse effect of Pb on language and executive functioning after adjustment for known risk factors.
 Peters et al. (2007): Persons with self-reported high stress levels have 2.66 times the risk of developing high BP for 1S.D. increase in tibia Pb
 Maternal stress enhances neurodevelopmental effects of Pb - Virgolini et al. (2008)

16 

### Pastor et al. (2001): Periods of greatest community demographic change “ethnic churning” correlate with introduction of noxious land uses.  Community’s social capital, in terms of stable leaders, networks, and institutions, is perhaps lowest during such periods.  

### Communities may not be able to participate in decision making process for several reasons:  Lack of access to information  Lack of representation  Linguistic or cultural barriers

1718

###  

# Charge questions:

 Describe the contribution of each vulnerability factor to environmental health risks/impacts.
 Describe the contribution of each factor contributes to **disparities** in environmental health risks/impacts
 Identify knowledge gaps and research needs to advance policy 

###  

# Commissioned a paper on approaches for incorporating vulnerability into risk assessment.
192021

**Objective #1** : Describe state of the science on factors that contribute to disproportionate environmental health impacts **Objective #2:** Explore assessment and policy analysis frameworks/tools/methods **Objective #3:** Identify goals to inform blueprint for an action agenda **Outcomes 1.**  **Publications** : • Critical reviews of the science underlying disproportionate environmental health impacts
•Applications papers – how to incorporate equity into decisionmaking assessments, frameworks, tools, and methods. **2. Goals to inform blueprint for an action**  **agenda** 

### March 17-19, 2010 science symposium: **“Strengthening Environmental Justice Research and**  **Decision -** **Making: A Symposium on the Science of Disproportionate Environmental** 

**Health Impacts”**   

### In attendance:  Policy makers, scientists, analysts, community representatives.  

### Topics covered:  Critical science reviews of factors that may drive disparities in environmental health for low income and minority populations;
 Discussions on EPA’s tools and policy and analytical approaches and how to incorporate equity considerations;
 Plenary sessions on the nexus between health disparities and the environment, and research needs for advancing the consideration of equity in EPA’s regulatory decision -making. 2223

###  

# Four broad areas:  Science, policy, capacity building, Healthy communities 

###  

# Recommendations received from:  Community stakeholders  Scientists,  Policy makers  Policy analysts

24

###  

## Science

 Explore the approach of using communities to collect data to overcome limitations of government data such as privacy issues and poor geospatial resolution.
 Identify low-cost, reliable and easy to use ambient media monitors for communities to collect data that can supplement data used by EPA in risk based decisions.
 Develop and use models for determining air toxics monitoring locations.
 Develop measures for the social environment.
 Identify toxicity pathways and upstream indicators of adverse outcomes. 25

###  Combine proximity analysis with air monitoring data to enhance

quality of information.
 Provide communities with access to tools for mapping information they collect about their environment. 

###  

## Policy  Assure that analysis informs policy choices.
 Land use policy should create buffer zones for land use planning to separate residential uses from contaminated sites or noxious land uses.  Need inter-agency collaboration; regulatory activity is fragmented across the federal agencies; agencies with sometimes conflicting mandates.
26

###  

## Healthy Communities  Need interagency collaboration focused on solutions at community level.
 Recognize and address the vulnerabilities in communities due to lack of access to health care, socioeconomic factors, social environment, etc  

## Community **Capacity Building** 
 Funding for community originated research
 Training to engage in decision-making 27

###  

## Review recommendations and develop correspondent action items.  

## Develop technical guidance on how to analytically incorporate EJ considerations into regulatory development decisions.  

## Develop a research strategy to address policy-relevant scientific gaps.

28 

### Lisa Garcia, Esq. – Snr. Advisor to the Administrator for Environmental Justice  

### Peter Grevatt, PhD – Director, Office of Children’s Health Protection  

### Charles Lee – Director, Office of Environmental Justice  

### Al McGartland, PhD – Director, National Center for Environmental Economics  

### Devon Payne-Sturges, DrPH – Asst. Director for Human Health, National Center for Environmental Research, Office of Research and Development.  

### William H. Sanders, III, DrPH – Director, National Center for Environmental Research, Office of Research and Development  

### Hal Zenick, PhD – Director, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development
29 **NIH**  National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities  National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences  **EPA**  Office of Environmental Justice  National Center for Environmental Research  National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory  Office of Children’s Health Protection and Environmental Education  National Center for Environmental Economics  **Office of Minority Health/Dept of Health and Human Services**  **CDC/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry/National Center for Environmental Health**   **CDC/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health**  **Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies with generous support from The**  **Kellogg Foundation**   **The Kresge**  **Foundation**  **American Public Health Association**  **Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future** 301. Gaitens JM, Dixon SL, Jacobs DE, Nagaraja J, Strauss W, Wilson JW, Ashley PJ. 2009. Exposure of U.S.

Children to Residential Dust Lead, 1999 –2004: I. Housing and Demographic Factors. EHP 117:461 -467 2. Gatto NM, Cockburn M, Bronstein J, Manthripragada AD, Ritz B. 2009. Well Water Consumption and Parkinson’s Disease in Rural California. EHP. doi : 10.1289/ehp.0900852 3. Glass TA, Bandeen - Roche K, McAtee M, Bolla K, Todd AC and Schwartz B. 2009. Neighborhood Psychosocial Hazards and the Association of Cumulative Lead Dose With Cognitive Function in Older Adults. Am J. Epi . 169(6):683-692. 4. Klitzman S, Caravanos J, Deitcher D, Rothenberg L, Belanoff C, Kramer R and Cohen L. 2005. Prevalence and Predictors of Residential Health Hazards: A Pilot Study. J. Occ. Health and Env . Hygiene 2:293-301. 5. Morello- Frosch , R. and Shenassa , E.D. (2003). The Environmental Riskscape and Social Inequality: Implications for Maternal and Child Health Disparities. EHP 114(8):1150-1153. 6. Peters JL, Kubzansky L, McNeely E, Schwartz J, Spiro III A., Sparrow D, Wright, RO et al. 2007. Stress as a Potential Modifier of the Impact of Lead Levels on Blood Pressure: The Normative Aging Study. EHP 115:1154- 1159. 7. Virgolini MB, Rossi-George A, Lisek DD, Weston M, et al. CNS effects of developmental Pb exposure are enhanced by combined maternal and offspring stress. Neurotox 29:812-827 8. UCC. 2007. Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty: Grassroots Struggle to Dismantle Environmental Racism in the United States. A report prepared for the United Church of Christ and Witness Ministries. 3132