Chemical Exposures, Health, and Environmental Justice in Communities Living on the Fenceline of Industry

Introducing the Microbes and Social Equity Working Group: Considering the Microbial Components of Social, Environmental, and Health Justice

“…Inhabitants of prisons and homeless shelters and those who reside in neighborhoods zoned for industrial use can experience higher rates of exposure to pathogenic microorganisms ( 6 , 92 – 94 ), strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria ( 95 ), and industrial chemicals ( 26 , 96 , 97 ). These exposures can severely impact human health by altering the microbiome, causing illness and disease, or resulting in epigenetic changes ( 98 , 99 ).…”

Repairing the damage: cleaning up hazardous coal ash can create jobs and improve the environment

“…Historical and ongoing air pollution from burning coal harms public health, particularly in overburdened and underserved communities-fenceline communities whose residents are often people of color or have low incomes (Johnston and Cushing 2020;Sergi et al 2020;Thind et al 2019). These same communities face the detrimental impacts and risks from coal ash disposal and improper cleanup, and, worse, often cope with pollution from other industries, lack access to medical care and legal help, and do not have resources to test groundwater for contamination (Evans and French 2021).…”

Environmental health equity: moving toward a solution-oriented research agenda

“…Increasingly, exposure scientists and epidemiologists are using multidisciplinary approaches to understand the uneven distribution of environmental exposures, links to unequal burdens of disease, and connections to social-structural factors such as racism, racial segregation, and environmental/economic policies [ 2 , 3 ]. The current global COVID-19 disease pandemic exemplifies how structural inequities can amplify disease burdens in vulnerable groups.…”