A version of this story was originally published in the Fall 2012 UW SRP eBulletin.
Beyond Toxics in Eugene, Oregon has a long history of improving public health in their region. The organization’s founders shepherded the model “Community Toxics Right to Know” law in the city of Eugene in 1990 and later created Beyond Toxics with a goal to guarantee environmental protections and health for all communities and residents in Oregon.
Beyond Toxics proposed the “West Eugene Industrial Corridor Environmental Health Project” that was funded by the EPA’s Environmental Justice Small Grants program in 2010 and 2011. The project served low-income and Latino communities in West Eugene who are more likely to suffer from asthma than other communities and who face barriers to improving environmental health. They are especially vulnerable because of limited access to media, information and resources, lack of health care, language barriers and social isolation.
An important aspect of the project was to gather information about children’s respiratory disease and cross-reference this information with satellite data of ‘point sources’ of air pollution to determine relationships between air toxics and health. Prior to the beginning of this project, there was little evidence that supported community concerns about disproportionate exposures to air toxics in West Eugene. However, Beyond Toxics now provides an analysis and characterization of combined risks to human and environment health from multiple air pollution sources or stressors through establishing relationships between locations of industries, locations of schools, demographics, health risks and income. The project also focused on incorporating community voices in decision-making processes to help develop new pathways in which families, communities and the city can achieve specific objective pollution prevention and community health benefits within a reasonable time frame.
More details on project outcomes.
Beyond Toxics is an active member of the Northwest Toxic Communities Coalition.
Pictured above, left to right: Lisa Arkin, Executive Director; Alison Guzman, Projects and Outreach Manager.