According to the report, minorities averaged 24 percent of the total population in postal delivery areas with a commercial hazardous-waste facility, but in ZIP code areas without such a facility, minorities averaged only 12 percent. But the UCC report also stated, in passing, that more than half the population of the United States lived in ZIP code areas with a commercial hazardous-waste facility. The UCC report did not provide a comprehensive picture of the distribution of hazardous waste in the United States, much less evidence of social disparity in that distribution. Moreover, the report did not provide any information on exposure, much less on the possible health consequences that could result from exposure. For example, researchers at the University of Massachusetts based their study not on ZIP code areas, but on census tracts.
Census tracts are both smaller and more definable as neighborhoods than ZIP code areas.
In 1992, several partisan EJ papers were published as a group in The National Law Journal without prepublication peer review. These problems included the presentation of statistically insignificant findings. When the data from our sample were used to make estimates about all nonhazardous municipal landfills in the nation, neither minorities nor low-income people were overrepresented in any consistent manner. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified healthcare provider.