The researchers at Occidental College also concluded that race was even more important than income in determining whether a neighborhood had a toxic waste dump. The Environmental Protection Agency of California, of course, denies that race is a factor in the permitting process. Nearly halfway across the country another urban wasteland has been created. This city has no obstetric services and no garbage removal. Jobs are scarce.
Raw sewage backs up into homes and schools regularly.
And this city, East St. Louis, has the highest rate of children s death related to asthma. East St. Louis sits directly next to Monsanto Chemical, Pfizer Chemical, Aluminum Ore, Big River Zinc and other industrial plants. It was noted at the New England Environmental Law Society in November 1992 at Harvard University that Most of these plants have their own incorporated townships, where no one lives and are no more than legal fiction to provide shelters and immunity from the jurisdiction of East St. Louis. This is a city where lead is found in playgrounds at an astonishing 10,000 parts per million. The fact that children play directly downstream from chemical and metal processing plants has resulted in the highest rate of childhood asthma in the nation.