Community Partners Seek Justice for Impoverished, Minorities

WASHINGTON, DC, June 10, 2004 (ENS) - Thirty community organizations across the country are each receiving the first installment of federal funding this week to undertake projects that address local environmental justice issues.

A collaborative problem solving approach is the common thread that won U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants for projects as diverse as a video about the dangers of PCBs in Anniston, Alabama; the renovation of homes with lead hazards in New Orleans, Louisiana; and the documentation of environmental degradation on former sugar cane lands on the island of Kauai, Hawaii.

Director of the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice Barry Hill, said, "These projects bring together communities and other stakeholders who understand that environmental justice issues and concerns can be best addressed through balanced, open and inclusive approaches at the local level."

Body shop spray booths are supposed to keep toxic chemicals from escaping into the atmosphere.(Photo credit unknown)

One project addresses toxic chemicals emitted from 65 auto-body shops in Park Heights, Maryland that are out of compliance with federal regulations. Projects elsewhere around the country focus on recycling, toxic dust and improper solid waste disposal.

Each of the 30 organizations will receive $100,000 over a three year period for a total of $3 million, under the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program. The agreements are being administered by the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice.

To accomplish the goals of these projects, the recipients will form partnerships with other affected community and grassroots organizations, local governments, health care providers, industry, and academia.

One environmental justice project won funding to address the dangers of toxic chemicals in the Vietnamese nail salons of Springfield, Massachusetts. Project organizers say lessons learned here may apply to other parts of the country, since Vietnamese nail salons make up an estimated half of the nailcare industry, especially the low cost, quick discount salons.

Vietnamese owned nail salons are a source of employment for low income Vietnamese women, but these salons dominate the discount sector of this industry based on a captive workforce that lacks employment alternatives and uses illegal, low cost chemicals.

Vietnamese nail technicians are surrounded by toxic chemicals. (Photo credit unknown)

The technicians experience health hazards that range from relatively minor rashes, asthma, respiratory problems, fungus infections, bacterial and viral infections, to serious problems such as spontaneous miscarriages and stillbirths, damage to the nervous system, cancers, and death.

Currently, city and state regulators are working to increase regulations in an attempt to improve health and safety practices in this industry without understanding the socio-economic and cultural issues facing the Vietnamese population.

The goal of the project is to resolve conflicts between the expanding population of Vietnamese nail salons and health and safety regulators in order to protect the health of the Vietnamese nail technicians without driving away business.

The stakeholders understand that the risks of failing to develop a cooperative solution could result in the loss of business as occured in neighboring Holyoke, which developed its own regulations that are closing down salons.

The project aims to facilitate understanding among health providers, regulators, nail salon owners and technicians, and community leaders about the health concerns among low-income Vietnamese nail salon workers.

To accomplish this the project partners will develop a working group of health care providers, nail salon owners and technicians, community leaders in the Vietnamese community, and local regulators to address the issues in a collaborative manner.

The partners will work to increase the capacity of Vietnamese nail salons to create healthy environments through the development and implementation of culturally appropriate education and technical assistance programs in Vietnamese.

They intend to develop a demonstration salon that will model safe chemical management and reduction practices, and serve as a site for ongoing, hands-on training and demonstrations for the Vietnamese nail community.

Part of the project will be to educate Vietnamese technicians and families already suffering from health problems due to chemical exposures about the causes to enable them to take appropriate action to protect themselves. Increasing the capacity of health care providers to identify symptoms of chemical exposure to develop appropriate treatments and educate patients is an important part of the project.

Partners will attempt to identify the most effective way for Vietnamese nail salons to work together to meet their common needs for affordable, less toxic products and ventilation equipment.

The project will reach out to educate community leaders, the Vietnamese public and agencies that serve the community about the importance of safe management of chemicals in the nail industry.

Over the three year life of the project, partners will attempt to gain the cooperation of local and state regulators through development of a long-term strategy to educate and assist salons to improve chemical management practices based on the results of this project.

Partners in the project include the Vietnamese American Civic Association, the Vietnamese Health Project at Mercy Hospital, Springfield Southwest Health Clinic, Springfield Health Department, the Toxics Use Reduction Institute, the Massachusetts Association of Health Agents, the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, the Dorchester Occupational Health Initiative, the Healthy Cosmetology Committee, the Buddhist Temple & Catholic Apostolate, nail salon owners and workers.

The project also has commitments to cooperate from health regulators such as the Springfield Health Department, the state Division of Occupational Safety, and the Massachusetts Health Officers Association.

EPA Office of Environmental Justice Director Hill is confident that bringing stakeholders together to work out difficult issues is the way to accomplish real change. "Collaborative approaches often result in greater satisfaction among all stakeholders," he said, "and ensure better long-term stakeholder involvement in addressing the local environmental and/or public health issues."