Environmental Justice: Disproportionate Exposures to Toxic Contaminants

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Exposome Analysis and Risk Assessment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2024) | Viewed by 2742

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Analytical Science Division, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
Interests: bioinorganic chemistry; biogeochemistry; metals; environmental exposure; water; soil; toxicology; environmental justice

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Analytical Science Division, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
Interests: environmental exposure; toxicology; environmental justice; molecular biology; microplastics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Across the globe, disadvantaged groups are exposed to environmental pollutants at higher rates and concentrations, either intentionally due to prejudice or unintentionally due to systemic racism. The field of environmental justice aims to detect these disproportionate exposures and develop interventions to alleviate them, providing equitable access to healthy environments and protection from environmental harms. Although the field may be best known from its beginnings in the United States in the 1980s with a PCB landfill in North Carolina and before that with pesticide exposures highlighted by the labor movement of Cesar Chavez, similar concerns have been identified in other areas of the world, demonstrating that environmental justice is truly a global concern.

This Special Issue will feature reports of known and emerging contaminants with disproportionate impacts on minoritized communities. Articles can focus on detection and analysis, human exposure measurement, toxicological studies, and mitigation approaches. Original research articles, narrative and systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and short communications will be considered for inclusion, with a focus on bringing environmental justice issues to light by identifying sources and presenting strategies to mitigate exposures with approaches that account for cultural sensitivities by including community input and participation.

We look forward to receiving your contribution.

Dr. James M. Harrington
Dr. Rios-Colon Leslimar
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • environmental exposure
  • environmental justice
  • emerging contaminants
  • exposome
  • heavy metals
  • drinking water
  • air pollution

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 2044 KiB  
Article
Critical Environmental Injustice: A Case Study Approach to Understanding Disproportionate Exposure to Toxic Emissions
by Clare E. B. Cannon
Toxics 2024, 12(4), 295; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12040295 - 17 Apr 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2103
Abstract
Environmental justice research has focused on the distribution of environmental inequalities, such as proximity to landfills, across the U.S. and globally. Background: Public health research and environmental health research, specifically, have focused on toxic exposure—encompassing individuals or communities that are disproportionately exposed to [...] Read more.
Environmental justice research has focused on the distribution of environmental inequalities, such as proximity to landfills, across the U.S. and globally. Background: Public health research and environmental health research, specifically, have focused on toxic exposure—encompassing individuals or communities that are disproportionately exposed to contaminants that are harmful or potentially harmful to them. Yet, little research has applied critical environmental justice theory—characterized by the idea that marginalized communities need to be treated as indispensable rather than disposable—to the study of toxic exposure. To fill this gap, the current paper offers a case study approach applying critical environmental justice theory to the study of disproportionate and unequal exposure to toxic contaminants. Methods: This case study is of Kettleman City, a rural, unincorporated community in the heart of California’s Central Valley (USA). This community experiences the co-location of environmental hazards, including residing at the intersection of two major highways and hosting a class I hazardous-waste landfill, which is one of the few licensed to accept PCBs. PCBs are a contaminant that has been linked with several adverse health outcomes, including cancers and low birthweight. Residents may also experience poor air quality from proximity to the highways. Results: This case highlights the uneven distribution of pollution and environmental degradation that may be shouldered by the community, along with their experiences of adverse health and social impacts. This analysis reveals the importance of incorporating a critical environmental justice perspective to unpack experiences of not only disproportionate exposure but also disproportionate procedural and recognitional inequality. Conclusions: This research highlights the untapped potential of environmental justice to catalyze exposure science in challenging the unequal distribution of contaminants. Full article
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