Love Canal activist offers tips on tackling toxins
2007-07-02
By Megan Mosely Athens NEWS Campus Reporter

Individuals from all over southeastern Ohio gathered on Saturday at the Athens Community Center for the Southeastern Ohio Environmental Justice Forum.

Lois Gibbs, an advocate for environmental justice best known for her activism around the Love Canal toxic waste dump, hosted the forum to assist with the fight against toxic pollution in southeastern Ohio.

Those who attended discussed a wide range of issues relating to toxic waste and its effects on a community. Gibbs kicked off the forum by presenting two main topics: communication and health.

The discussion on health raised a plethora of issues. Gibbs warned, for example, that trying to document claims that a toxic waste source is having local health impacts may be waste of effort.

Health information and statistics, according to Gibbs, are often faulty. She alleged that 90 percent of the studies conducted by federal or state agencies come back with little or no evidence of toxic impacts.

"If they find something, oftentimes it is dismissed," she added. "Going back to Love Canal, they found 56 percent of the children had birth defects. We pushed the health department to come in and do a study because we knew there was a serious problem there. The health department reluctantly came in, and found that 56 percent of the children were born with birth defects... (But) then they say, 'But we don't think it's related to the 20 thousand million toxic chemicals in the neighborhood.' They claimed we were a random clustering of genetically defective people."

Gibbs mentioned that although health studies are important, there are other ways to gather information to support one's cause.

"Health studies are helpful to confirm what you know," she explained. "They're useful in giving justification for your request. Whether it is stopping new facilities, cleaning up old facilities, or both. But health studies (can also) mess up your effort. We suggest people do not do health studies. We suggest people do health registry. You collect the same information from the community, but you do not have a comparison. You can still go out to the public with your information and you can then lay out your demands."

Elisa Young, from Racine, Ohio, asked Gibbs what she thought of independent studies. Gibbs responded that although they sound like a good idea, they are often viewed as lacking legitimacy.

"A study by definition has to be scientifically valid," she said. "It has to have a list of things, which is hard for even universities to put together. A health registry is your best bet."

Gibbs suggested that nurse interns from colleges all around Ohio can and will assist in putting together a health registry.

Joni Fearing, vice president of Portsmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Security, raised the issue of how prevalent cancer is in American society. She suggested this prevalence may make it harder to convince people that the disease is linked to toxic pollution.

"We're in a situation now where everything causes cancer," she said. "How do we fight that?"

Gibbs' answer: "It's difficult because some people don't care about their health. But sometimes it is the effect of researchers coming in and giving a list of cancer-causing agents, making people think that maybe it is not the nuclear waste that is causing their problems. We fight that by bringing our information in and saying, 'It is not your fault you have cancer!'"

Fearing switched the topic to communication by describing her organization's wider viewpoint.

"We have a vision," she said. "We want alternative energy plants to come in, including solar, wind and ethanol production. This would mean jobs and a cleaner environment."

Gibbs responded that "we all have a vision. Our children are leaving the area and we don't want that. We want to develop (our economy) so people want to stay. We're not just talking about stopping toxic pollution, we're about building an economy."

With an eclectic group of people fighting toxic pollution all over Southeastern Ohio, Gibbs stressed the idea that everyone present at the forum needs to work together.

"You all have the same vision," she argued. "Cut that vision and work together."

Gibbs wrapped things up with her notion of how these various groups are going to affect one another.

"People from different issues are coming together to make southeastern Ohio a healthier place," she said. "You can work together by sharing ideas, sharing visions, and sharing information, and turn some heads."