Cancer Alley Case Study

This makes me qualified to do this research paper. Additionally, I am able to contact experts on the issue who can offer their opinion and knowledge on the issue. The sources used in this paper will be from Academic Search Premier. Academic Search Premier has a plethora of resources I can use for my empirical paper. The sources (articles) I will use will be peer reviewed and they will from the year 2007 and onward. I will try to steer clear of articles that are older than this because the data may not reflect the current situation. Therefore, the data will be more recent. The first source I will be using is a peer review article by Hines. The article talks specifically about the statics in Emelle Alabama and the detrimental effects of hazardous waste dumping in the county. The second article will be by Hurley who looks at the environmental racism history of America and how that affects minorities now. The third article is by Mcdoll who gives the background on how minorities are mistreated and treated unfairly when it comes to choosing where noxious waste facilities

In the book, Sacrifice Zones, Steve Lerner takes readers through twelve separate stories of communities in the United States that have been unwillingly exposed to high levels of environmental toxicity. In each of these cases, citizens of those communities reacted to and pushed back against being exposed to toxic chemicals, sometimes successfully and sometimes less so. In every case, the people most heavily exposed to these health hazards were minorities and low-income citizens, which, Lerner argues, is why government officials and corporate decision-makers chose knowingly to risk exposing them. This paper will outline Lerner’s book and argue that despite a long history of protests, lawsuits, media attention and nationwide outrage, willing exposure of low-income and minority Americans to toxic chemicals in the pursuit of government and corporate interests is still a major problem today.

The African American community, in contrast to the rest of Norco and Louisiana, is historically afflicted with higher rates of cancer and asthma related deaths (Margie 01:19:29:20 ), and more prone to birth defects (Wilma Subra 01:18:09:03 ). Closely related and contrastingly to this, the white community of Norco tends to have longer lifespans, and are apparently less affected by cancer and asthma (Sal 01:21:11:29 ). The film directly compares these two perspectives, layering them side by side chronologically. The film uses this comparison as evidence that the African American community’s close proximity to the Shell refinery is an environmental determinant to health. Furthermore, that geographic location and environment are factors directly affecting health.

The complex issues surrounding the Agriculture Street Landfill are part of a much larger story about environmental justice and public housing that, while an entrenched part of the city’s history, came to the forefront post-Katrina. According to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., “a powerfully discriminatory tendency in planning is for environmentally vulnerable low-income neighborhoods to be deemed disposable, whereas equally vulnerable high-income neighborhoods are deemed indispensable because they are more valuable (Morse 2008).” Nowhere has this been more evident than in these poor, black New Orleans neighborhoods, historically dominated by public housing.

Environmental racism is the “targeting of minorities and low-income communities to bear a disproportionate share of environmental costs. It refers to any policy or practice that differently affects or disadvantages individuals, groups or communities based on race or skin color” (Schill & Austin 1991). Pollution is disproportionately distributed across the country; it is also distributed unequally within individual states, within counties, and within cities (Schill & Austin 1991). Hazardous waste sites, municipal landfills, incinerators, and other hazardous facilities are disproportionately located in poor and minority neighborhoods (White-Newsome 2016). Each year, America produces 275 million metric tons of hazardous waste. Environmental regulations only regulate 40 million tons of the waste leaving the rest to be sent to landfills and waste sites (White-Newsome 2016). According to research done by The Commission for Racial Justice of the United Church of Christ, Zip code areas containing at least one hazardous waste site had, on average, 24% people of color, compared to 12% in areas without a hazardous waste site. Additionally, “zip code areas containing either two or more facilities or one of the five largest hazardous waste landfills in the nation had, on average, 38% people of color “(White-Newsome 2016). One of the largest dumping grounds is located in Emelle, Sumter County, Alabama. Sumter County houses the nation’s largest hazardous landfill facility. The landfill

Continental Carbon Company, a business which produces synthetic rubber, erected a plant separated from the Ponca Tribe’s housing by only a fence. Each day the factory emits a powdery black substance commonly referred to as “Carbon Black.” This chemical has been cited by the CDC as a potential carcinogenic in humans, and various problems within the circulatory system can be linked to prolonged exposure to the chemical. As stated in the article, “Rethinking the Scope of Environmental Injustice: Perceptions of Health Hazards in a Rural Native American Community Exposed to Carbon Black,*” the chemical is able to seep into houses through windows and accumulate in carpets, leading numerous residents to strip down to their subfloors. (Shriver and Webb 279) As they were conscious of the pollution they were pumping into the air, the CCC sought to offset their damage to the town by offering free professional cleanings of automobiles and property affected by Carbon Black. However, the only members of the population who and received this service were white and lived farther away from the factory than the tribe, (who had no members report being approached by the company for these cleanings. (Shriver and Webb

The number of white residents living within a mile of treatment and environmental toxic disposal facilities has increased. Environmental justice advocates have discovered the disproportionate placement of hazardous waste facilities in low-income communities of color throughout the United States. California, specifically, is a culturally diverse state with changing demographics and major issues with pollution. Although pollution and waste is a widespread problem, it has been more negatively impactful to communities of color than those of whites. Environmental racism demonstrates several instances of causation and correlation between ethnicity and exposure to pollution.

The Delbert Day Cancer Institute Fund created a vision to provide patient centered care and create a seamless transition of services for patients throughout the duration of their treatments. The Delbert Day Cancer Institute (DDCI) became a reality as 2016 saw the completion of the construction and a new level of improved quality of cancer care in our region. The word “cancer” is a terrifying word and often patients are left at a loss on how to handle this difficult time. The DDCI provides patients with emotional support along with their medical treatment and utilizes a diverse team to provide each patient with a personalized plan for treatment and the highest quality of care.

A cancer research and treatment center in Buffalo, New York is taking a huge leap in advancement. The Roswell Park Cancer Institute, is announcing a new spin off of a new company. The institute was first a dedicated medical facility for cancer research and treatment in the country.

There’s a reason why Chevron chose to dump 18 billion gallons of contaminated water in open pits near the indigenous Quichua, Cofan, and Secoya tribes without fear of retribution. There’s a reason why, according to Paul Nussbaum, Chester, Pennsylvania, a community that is 65% Black, is home to sites that produce two million tons of waste a year while surrounding, mostly White communities produce only 1,400 tons of toxic waste. There’s a reason why, in December of 2014, grocery delivery company FreshDirect began plans to build their new headquarters and a fueling station along the South Bronx waterfront, a district which is 39% Black and 60% Hispanic according to the Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems.

The placement of companies deleterious to the environment and well-being of humans is something that prosperous communities are not quite familiar with; in contrast, it is something well-known to less affluent communities. The imbalance of classification shows a lack of environmental justice in low-income and minority communities. According to the EPA, or Environmental Protection Agency, “environmental justice is the fair treatment… of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies,” (EPA, n.d.). However, the environmental justice, the EPA mentions is not prevalent in communities of color, but rather its counterpart is: environmental injustice. Environmental injustice, or environmental racism, being the excessive placing of perilous waste and contaminating polluters near communities of color (Cha, 2016). Although often overlooked, environmental racism is an extensive problem that negatively affects minority communities in Southeast Los Angeles.

National Resources Defense Council, Inc., Citizens for a Better Environment, Inc., and North Western Ohio Lung Association, Inc., Defendant/ Appellee

Marxism: “Society is dominated by a fundamental conflict of interest between two social classes-the capitalist class and the working class”.(Germov &Hornosty, 2012, p.32)

So we get to the chemo center at 3:30 in the afternoon which we never do. We always like to get a morning appointment but that didn't happen this time. Everyone kept saying how busy it was that day. They were so busy, busy, busy and so I knew we were going to wait, wait, wait. Usually when a place is so busy it means it’s a success. When a chemo center is beyond capacity it’s sad sign there’s a cancer epidemic that is not going away We waited 45 min to get into not a room but a short infusion space which is kind of like in a hallway. So this chemo was supposed to last two hours Ha! No, there was a mistake and they said it's going to be longer because they want to do it very slowly. So they decided because it's going to be longer we would get

This patient is an employee of SRHS and received services from Cancer Care. Rather than writing it off with the employee discount, Brenda was able to get financial assistance from the Patient Access Network Foundation in the amount of $912.45. She noted the account prior to making the payment stating that $912.45 was for copay assistance from Remicade. When I took the CC payment, I also noted the account showing payment was received from the Foundation. The billing office refunded that payment, not to the patient, but back to the Foundation. More than likely, that money will not come back to us since they didn’t read the notes and/or ask any questions. There have been other accounts where payments have been taken, leaving a credit balance,