Environmental Racism, The Tragedy of Chester, Pennslyvania

In a course I took last Spring, theory of health behavior change, the first class focused completely on social determinants of health. Environmental racism is unfortunately a reality and determinant of health that many races in this country, especially African Americans have to endure. 

One of the most significant examples of this in our history is The Tragedy of Chester, Pennsylvania. Chester, Pennsylvania is predominantly poor and Black (65%) community and home to 42,000 residents. The median family income for Chester is $24,893. Only about one-fourth of residents in Chester have some college education and Chester has a substantial percentage of non-highschool graduates. 

Since the mid 1980's, Chester City has been the home of  four hazardous and municipal waste treatment facilities, including the nation's largest infectious medical waste treatment facility. Unfortunately, those residents live next to one of the largest waste facilities in the country. Furthermore, the facility that burns waste is the seventh largest garbage-burning incinerator in the nation. Sadly, the this facility also burns waste from all over the east coast. 

This exposure to toxic substances and pollution went on for years. The social determinants of living in Chester seriously impacted that quality of life and residents complained of heavy pollution in the air and the side effects of it, i.e. constant headaches, sore throats, skin disorders, and asthma. Property values were also impacted and dropped given the structural damage to homes from trash and waste in community. 

Finally, in 1994, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got involved and after a six month cumulative risk assessment, there was no denying the presence of environmental racism. Through the risk assessment, the EPA identified the following: Chester had the highest percentage of low-weight births in the state, nearly double the rate for the entire county, and a mortality and a lung cancer rate that was 60% higher than the rest of their county. The children of Chester were also tested and were found to have the highest concentration of lead in their bloodstream relative to the children in the rest of the state.  Unfortunately, the EPA ruled that they had no real power to make meaningful change and permits are still be granted to build toxic dump sites.