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STATEMENT ON PROTECTING PUBLIC HEALTH AND HAZARD
REDUCTION (Chemical plants, terrorism, and right-to-know)
Fair Use Statement
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STATEMENT ON PROTECTING PUBLIC HEALTH AND HAZARD
REDUCTION
November 2001
We, the undersigned medical, nursing, health science,
public health, consumer and faith professionals and
organizations, share in the horror felt around the
world at the slaughter of thousands of innocent
civilians on September 11 and support efforts to
ensure that similar terrorist acts are never repeated.
We urge that the efforts to prevent future terrorist
acts honor the principles of freedom and democracy
that we cherish and seek to protect. Embedded in the
principles of freedom and democracy is the
right-to-know about hazards in one’s own community and
the right-to-act to reduce those hazards.
Freedom and democracy are preserved only insofar as
our nation respects the public’s right-to-know and
honors the government’s duty to warn communities about
pollutants in our air, land, and water, and about
hazardous conditions where we live, work, play, and
learn. Many pollutants are known to harm human health
even at low levels of exposure. Information about
hazardous conditions allows individual citizens as
well as their elected representatives to make informed
choices about their own and their community’s health
and safety and enables health practitioners to better
recognize and treat conditions related to
environmental exposures.
The terrorist acts of September 11 have in particular
heightened awareness of the dangers posed to
communities by potential releases of hazardous
chemicals in our midst. While valid security concerns
have been raised, some current proposals would unduly
deny information and forewarning about hazards to
those who could be harmed. Moreover, the appropriate
release of information would actually help to protect
and serve our communities, our citizens, and public
health. Limiting access to information should not be
a substitute for effective policies and actions that
prevent and control environmental hazards. Limiting
the unnecessary production and release of hazardous
chemicals on a routine basis, coupled with the
right-to-know about the presence and release of such
chemicals, will make our nation, and the world, a
safer place.
We therefore call upon government officials, public
health practitioners, and facility owners and
operators to:
[o] Recognize the need to incorporate hazard reduction
as a fundamental component of preventing the release
of hazardous chemicals (whether from criminal
activities or ordinary operations);
[o] Recognize that eliminating or reducing hazardous
characteristics during initial facility design or
later retrofitting is preferable to simply adding on
hazard control or security measures;
[o] Recognize the need for mandatory, national safety,
control and security standards for chemical hazards
that cannot otherwise be eliminated.
[o] Recognize that the right-to-know about chemicals
in one’s neighborhood, or workplace or near one’s
child’s school is an important right in our democracy
and should not be lightly abridged.
[o] Recognize the need to prepare, equip and train the
public health community to identify, prevent, and
respond to routine and emergency exposures to
environmental health hazards.
We therefore further call for immediate steps and
long-term policies that eliminate or reduce chemical
hazards as the option of first resort, including
policies and steps that:
[*] First, eliminate the possibility of a chemical
fire, spill or airborne release, whenever feasible
(for example, by substituting safer chemicals or
non-chemical alternatives);
[*] Second, reduce the likelihood of a chemical fire,
spill or airborne release, whenever chemical hazards
cannot be eliminated; (for example, by adding sensors,
alarms, automatic shutoffs, or other controls);
[*] Third, mitigate the potential consequences of an
unanticipated chemical fire, spill or airborne
release, whenever chemical hazards cannot be
eliminated or controlled (for example by planning for
emergencies and training and equipping the public
health community to respond); and,
[*] Fourth, keep unavoidably hazardous facilities away
from places where people live, work, play, and learn
(for example by establishing adequate buffer zones).
In cases where access to information related to such
hazards is being reviewed in light of potential
security concerns, such review should:
[o] Include public health professionals and others who
have used such information to improve community health
and safety;
[o] Follow consistent standards and criteria,
deliberately applied;
[o] Uphold hazard prevention as the first option over
appeals to withhold information;
[o] Place the burden of doubt on those who would
withhold public safety information; and,
[o] Respect the public’s right-to-know and honor the
government’s duty to warn of potential harm.
Signed,
Organizations
Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning
American Public Health Association
Children’s Environmental Health Network
Consumers Union
General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist
Church
Healthy Children Organizing Project
Improving Kids' Environment
Institute for Children's Environmental Health
Maine Lead Action Project
Michigan Environmental Council
Missouri-SMPL (Safer Management of Pests & Landscapes)
National Center for Policy Research for Women &
Families
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Rural Action Safe Pest Control Program
Summit Health Institute for Research and Education,
Inc.
United Parents Against Lead of North Carolina, Inc.
Individuals
(Affiliations provided for informational purposes
only)
Susan Berkson
Metro Coordinator
Minnesota Children's Health Environmental Coalition
Lynne Cannon
Co-chair, Research Committee
Learning Disabilities Association
Ann Carroll
Dave Dempsey
Michigan Environmental Council
H. Susan Freireich, MPH
Sanford Lewis
Attorney
J. W. Oman
Attorney at Law
Stella Stadtherr
Project Coordinator
Community Energy Project, Inc
Ann Vinup
Co-chair, Research Committee
Learning Disabilities Association
Anne Ziebarth
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT THE CHILDREN’S
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH NETWORK, 202-543-4033, EXTENSION
16, OR 703-486-1664.
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