Download Exposure to Extremely Hazardous Substances

Exposure to Extremely
Hazardous Substances
•The likelihood of exposure to hazardous substances
based on economic status and race
•Paper by J. Chakraborty. 2001. Risk Analysis,
21(5): 883-895
•Presented by Jeffrey Tate, Environmental Studies,
Geog 370, 3/1/2010
Differences in Exposure
• Problem: Whether or not minorities and people
of lower economic status are more likely to be
exposed to extremely hazardous substances
• Hypothesis: Minorities and people below the
poverty line have significantly more exposure to
extremely hazardous chemicals than whites and
those above the poverty level
Methods
• Site: Hillsborough County, Florida
• Determined within the county: Number of facilities
that use extremely hazardous substances, where
they are, what substances they house (from RMPs)
• Estimates for 1997 based on Census data were used
to determine the racial composition and poverty
status of the population in the county
• The locations of the facilities were geocoded onto
the street network and used with the Census data to
see what groups of people were close to the facilities
Results
• Non-white people had a higher risk of potential
exposure to accidental releases of extremely
hazardous chemicals than white people
• People below the poverty line had a higher risk
of potential exposure than those above the line
Conclusions
• There is a clear difference between the potential
exposure of hazardous substances between minorities
and whites, and those above the poverty line and below
• There are clear racial and economic inequalities in the
distribution of accidental exposure to hazardous
substances
• Criticisms
• Does not determine whether communities or facilities
come first
• Does not examine actual health effects due to exposure
of hazardous substances