Popular epidemiology and the struggle for community health: Alternative perspectives from the environmental justice movement∗

Novotny, Patrick J

doi:10.1080/10455759409358586

Cited by 30 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Only when the spatial correspondence is clear can public health and environmental protection officials, the medical research community, health care providers, and pollution prevention scientists begin to develop solutions to existing environmental injustices and resulting health effects. People within communities disproportionately burdened with pollution are suffering adverse physical and psychologic impacts, as well as economic impacts, according to a wealth of anecdotal reports and empirical research (28,(72)(73)(74)(75)(76)(77)(78)(79)(80)(81). It is important to show the disproportionate effects of pollution rather than just the fact that disproportionate distribution of pollution sources exists.…”

Section: Making the Connection Between Environmental Justice And Envimentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping environmental injustices: pitfalls and potential of geographic information systems in assessing environmental health and equity.

Maantay

2002

Environ Health Perspect

237

157

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Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been used increasingly to map instances of environmental injustice, the disproportionate exposure of certain populations to environmental hazards. Some of the technical and analytic difficulties of mapping environmental injustice are outlined in this article, along with suggestions for using GIS to better assess and predict environmental health and equity. I examine 13 GIS-based environmental equity studies conducted within the past decade and use a study of noxious land use locations in the Bronx, New York, to illustrate and evaluate the differences in two common methods of determining exposure extent and the characteristics of proximate populations. Unresolved issues in mapping environmental equity and health include lack of comprehensive hazards databases; the inadequacy of current exposure indices; the need to develop realistic methodologies for determining the geographic extent of exposure and the characteristics of the affected populations; and the paucity and insufficiency of health assessment data. GIS have great potential to help us understand the spatial relationship between pollution and health. Refinements in exposure indices; the use of dispersion modeling and advanced proximity analysis; the application of neighborhood-scale analysis; and the consideration of other factors such as zoning and planning policies will enable more conclusive findings. The environmental equity studies reviewed in this article found a disproportionate environmental burden based on race and/or income. It is critical now to demonstrate correspondence between environmental burdens and adverse health impacts-to show the disproportionate effects of pollution rather than just the disproportionate distribution of pollution sources. Mapping Environmental Injustices: Pitfalls and Potential of Geographic Information Systems in Assessing Environmental Health and Equity Juliana MaantayDepartment of Geology and Geography, Lehman College, City University of New York, Bronx, New York, USA not hosts to a hazardous waste facility, the host areas showed an unmistakable statistical and spatial correspondence to minority populations (13).If "Toxic Wastes and Race" was the seminal study that helped propel the issue of environmental justice to the forefront of the public's consciousness in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was certainly not the first environmental justice study. These issues have been researched extensively since at least the late 1960s, and study after study throughout three decades has shown the existence of disproportionate environmental impacts based on race and/or income (14,15). Since then, many other researchers have used mapping exercises to try to substantiate or refute the existence of environmental inequities.In this article I review 13 GIS-based environmental equity studies conducted within the past decade (Table 1). In evaluating these studies, it is important to understand exactly what is being mapped, and how it is being measured. Limitations of Mapping Environmental J...

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Section: Making the Connection Between Environmental Justice And Envimentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping environmental injustices: pitfalls and potential of geographic information systems in assessing environmental health and equity.

Maantay

2002

Environ Health Perspect

237

157

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“…We agree with those who insist that the problem-defining political process must be open to a range of civic groups, and specific affirmative action is to be taken to support those groups with fewer resources in the political process. Fischer has made the case for what he calls 'the participatory alternative' and 'risk assessment as lay epidemiology' (1995; see also Novotny, 1998). Accordingly, problem definition should not be confined to technical discussions among experts; rather, the politics of problem definition should include discussions among various social action groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Contested and polluted terrain

Desfor

Keil

1999

Local Environment

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This paper examines the new Ontario guidelines for the clean-up of contaminated sites using Toronto as an empirical case. The contention of the paper is that Ontario's new soil clean-up policy is the product of a set of embedded understandings about the economy, about the environment and about deep interconnections between the environment and the economy. These understandings are, to a large degree, specifically local. We contextualise the new guidelines by arguing that they contribute to restructuring the political economy of Toronto from an industrial to a global city. The analysis is based on, among other sources, a series of interviews with policy makers, scientists, bankers, insurance representatives and other knowledgeable individuals in the debate on polluted soil clean-up. Substantively, the paper focuses on the introduction of various risk-assessment processes into the debate on contaminated sites. The paper concludes that these processes need to be made subject to democratic rather than purely technocratic processes of evaluation and decision making.

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“…Popular epidemiology can be defined as a critique of discourses of epidemiological and public health, developing new ways of producing epidemiological data (Brown 1992(Brown , 1997Martinez-Alier et al 2014). Moreover, it challenges traditional epidemiology that does not include historical and sociological investigation (Novotny 1994). It brings the health concerns of specific communities to the attention of the media, government officials and industries through diverse practices of data collection, such as community health surveys and collection of documentation by lay-people, in order to enlighten suspected links between health disorders and environmental hazards in a specific place (Novotny 1994).…”

Section: Biopower and The Politicization Of (Ill) Bodiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, it challenges traditional epidemiology that does not include historical and sociological investigation (Novotny 1994). It brings the health concerns of specific communities to the attention of the media, government officials and industries through diverse practices of data collection, such as community health surveys and collection of documentation by lay-people, in order to enlighten suspected links between health disorders and environmental hazards in a specific place (Novotny 1994). Arthur Frank's The wounded storyteller (1995) makes clear that the need to tell stories of illness to others is connected to the restoration and creation of memory.…”

Section: Biopower and The Politicization Of (Ill) Bodiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The politicization of ill bodies in Campania, Italy

Iengo

Armiero

2017

Journal of Political Ecology

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The communities affected by toxic contamination in Campania, Italy, have had to confront the challenge of proving a direct causal connection between exposure to pollutants and health issues, given a long history of mismanagement of waste. Medical studies have been conducted, but the social and political debate is static. In September 2014, the Italian Ministry of Health simply repeated earlier statements that Campania's increasing cancer rates are due to poor lifestyle habits. The article casts light on the politicization of ill bodies of Campania. We analyze three practices of political action and resistance which employed the subjectivization of physical bodies and illnesses to expose environmental injustice affecting communities. In the neighborhood of Pianura, Naples, people gathered medical records as evidence for a trial into 'culpable epidemics.' In the so-called Land of Fires, in the northern periphery of Naples, hundreds of postcards featuring pictures of children killed by rare pathologies were sent to the Italian Head of State and the Pope. Finally, in the town of Acerra, the blood of a dying shepherd became a political object to prove exposure to dioxin contamination in that area. The politicization of illness and bodies conflates the public and private, challenges the mainstream production of knowledge, and proposes an alternative narrative for affected communities and individuals. Nevertheless, the practices of this politicization have differed and are not always 'political', as we will show through the three cases. Key words: popular epidemiology, biopower, waste, Campania, political ecology of disease, private is political RésuméLes communautés affectées par la contamination toxique en Campanie, en Italie, ont dû faire face au défi de prouver un lien de causalité direct entre l'exposition aux polluants et les problèmes de santé, compte tenu d'une longue histoire de mauvaise gestion des déchets. Des études médicales ont été menées, mais le débat social et politique est statique. En septembre 2014, le ministère italien de la Santé a tout simplement répété des déclarations antérieures selon lesquelles les taux croissants de cancer en Campanie sont dus à de mauvaises habitudes de vie. L'article éclaire la politisation des corps malades de la Campanie. Nous analysons trois pratiques d'action politique et de résistance qui utilisaient la subjectivisation des corps physiques et des maladies pour exposer les injustices environnementales qui affectent les communautés. Dans le voisinage de Pianura, Naples, les gens ont rassemblé des dossiers médicaux comme preuve pour un procès en «épidémies coupables». Dans le pays de Fires, dans la périphérie nord de Naples, des centaines de cartes postales contenant des photos d'enfants tués par des pathologies rares ont été envoyées au chef de l'État italien et au pape. Enfin, dans la ville d'Acerra, le sang d'un berger mourant est devenu un objet politique pour prouver l'exposition à la contamination par les dioxines dans cette zone. La politisation des maladi...

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Popular epidemiology and the struggle for community health: Alternative perspectives from the environmental justice movement∗

Cited by 30 publications

References 1 publication

Mapping environmental injustices: pitfalls and potential of geographic information systems in assessing environmental health and equity.

Mapping environmental injustices: pitfalls and potential of geographic information systems in assessing environmental health and equity.

Contested and polluted terrain

The politicization of ill bodies in Campania, Italy

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