The role of community advocacy groups in environmental protection: example of September 11, 2001

Details

• Personal Author:
  Flynn K ; Hall C ; McVay-Hughes C ; Reibman J
• Description:
  The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City on September 11, 2001, resulted in one of the worst environmental disasters ever to hit a major American city. This chapter illustrates the ways many diverse community and lahor-based organizations, from across Lower Manhattan and beyond, allied with each other to press government agencies and officials at the federal, state, and local levels for a comprehensive emergency response to the environmental aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Key lessons were learned in the following eight years of struggle. (These lessons are summarized at the end of the chapter.) Many affected groups united in the call for a federally funded World Trade Center (WTC) Enviromnental Health Center (EHC) to provide specialized health care [or all residents, students, and area workers whose health was harmed by WTC exposures. In 2007, the groups formed the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to the WTC EHC at New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation at Bellevue Hospital, which now has expanded to two additional clinics. It is the CAC's mission to draw on the expertise and experiences of its members to advise the WTC EHC and ensure that the evolving WTC-rclated health care needs of the affected communities are met, now and in the future. The CAC serves as a brain trust with a sophisticated real-world set of lessons learned that should inform a community advocacy framework for future disasters. This chapter illuminates the perspective of these community based advocacy organizations. Communication of information from government agencies is critical for residents, students, school parents, and office workers to help them understand the health risks of being exposed to the WTC toxic dust and smoke that pervaded the area surrounding the vVorld Trade Center, indoors and out, after the disaster. 9/11 resulted in massive displacements, disruption of basic services, factory and small business closures, and job loss in Lower Manhattan, with ripple effects well beyond the area hit with the heaviest damage. Attempts to address the multiplicity or disaster- related needs of neighborhoods posed unprecedented challenges to those who lived and worked there, including community advocates and activists. When residents, workers, parents, and advocates sought government help, they confronted an array of agencies on the federal, state, and local levels that had been tasked with a variety of disaster-related functions. Typically, agencies disavowed their disaster duties and passed the buck to other agencies. On the environmental health front, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) simply asserted, without evidence, that the air was safe, with Mayor Rudy Giuliani and other agencies following suit. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Emergencies Environmental Exposure Environmental Health Environmental Pollution Men Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Children Emergency-response Environmental-contamination Environmental-exposure Environmental-hazards Environmental-health Environmental-pollution Exposure-levels Health-care Humans Risk-factors Work-environment Workers

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• ISBN:
  9780470593431
• Publisher:
  John Wiley & Sons
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Book
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  113-136
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20046262
• Citation:
  Environmental policy and public health: air pollution, global climate change, and wilderness. Rom WN, ed. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Nov; :113-136
• Editor(s):
  Rom WN
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• Performing Organization:
  New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20080929
• Source Full Name:
  Environmental policy and public health: air pollution, global climate change, and wilderness
• End Date:
  20110928
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a278fa8ce5b68fb8cac4e54055732751e06cf1ed565c19cd927a389f1d051cd7fbd6db8d427221cffff3ea6280286397608e6321b05c3fe5347a84bb7f137277
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/201368/cdc_201368_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 6.85 MB ]