Poisoning // Current

Worst Mass Poisoning of Humans in History

Manmade ponds contaminated with arsenic have poisoned millions in Bangladesh.

Progresshiv
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Activists Meet With Feds Over Environmental Racism

ATLANTA -- Environmental and racial justice activists from six states met with federal Environmental Protection Agency officials Tuesday to demand a revamp of the agency they accuse of overlooking years of chronic environmental missteps in minority communities across the South.

That includes the dumping of toxic chemicals into landfills and drinking water sources that are disproportionately in black, low-income communities, said Robert Bullard, director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University and author of several books on what's been dubbed "environmental racism."

Bullard, who led Tuesday's meeting with EPA Region 4 Acting Administrator A. Stanley Meiburg, said his own studies have repeatedly shown that while environmental mishaps may occur throughout the country, they disproportionately occur in predominantly minority communities.

"It's not random," said Bullard, who led a predominantly black group that included community activists, environmental attorneys and families impacted by chemical waste.

They argued that EPA officials have been bullied into overlooking environmental transgressions, and demanded everything from apologies to families impacted by pollution to a floor-to-ceiling overall of the federal agency charged with protecting human health and the environment.

The demands come as President Barack Obama considers a permanent leader for the region, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Activists have zeroed in on the region they claim is among the most impacted by pollutants like coal ash in the nation.

In a statement, EPA officials said there were "no immediate or simple answers" to the concerns raised Tuesday, but promised a commitment to examining "the disproportionate burden pollution has placed on vulnerable populations."

"All Americans - regardless of race, age, income or gender - deserve a clean, healthy and livable community," the statement read. "EPA is committed to this goal."

But Bullard and others said they left with few direct answers and little hope that EPA officials were committed to major changes.

In a 2007 study, Bullard found that nationally, up to 56 percent of residents living within a 2 mile radius of commercial hazardous waste facilities were people of color.

Historically, power plants and factories have leaned toward building in low-income areas where land is cheaper and residents are perceived as less likely to put up a fight, according to Felicia Davis, an Atlanta-based activist with the Environmental Justice Climate Change Initiative.

She gave Early County, Ga., as an example: Activists there question a $2 billion plan to build the state's first new coal-fired plant in more than two decades in the 49 percent black community, despite above-average air pollution there.

"We have communities where poor people are literally being dumped on," Davis said.ATLANTA -- Environmental and racial justice activists from six states met with federal... more

mae37
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‘Poisoning attempt’ Charges Filed Against French H1N1 Campaign

In what is being seen as the first of many such actions to come, nine individuals have filed formal charges claiming that the H1N1 campaign is a deliberate attempt to poison the French population. These charges, which were filed yesterday, could not come at a more inopportune moment for the government and health specialists. The vaccination campaign got underway last Tuesday in a climate of national skepticism as to the vaccine’s safety and efficiency, and this news will surely boost the morale of the increasing number of anti-vaccine lobbyists who are beginning to organize their resistance to any attempt to vaccinate the population against H1N1.

Nine inhabitants of the Isére region of France are cited as joint plaintiffs in the case, including a health sector worker, a teacher and a radio talk show host. They met each other at various public meetings held to denounce the vaccine’s alleged health risks.

The charges take the form of a ‘plainte contre X’ which means that the perpetrator of an alleged crime or felony is not known, or is not named, in the charge sheet. This is a commonly used manner of filing complaints in France, particularly where the charges relate to supposed government implication in alleged breaches of the law. In cases where those trials proceed after prior examination of the facts, the specific persons or organizations concerned are designated and charged as the trial proceeds.

Jean-Pierre Joseph, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, describes the vaccination campaign as “A veritable attempt to poison.” He confirmed that the charges were filed at the High Court in Grenoble before the court’s senior examining magistrate. He said other court cases involving other plaintiffs would begin soon

The various charges filed included one of “Attempting to administer substances…of a nature which could result in death.”

“The aim is to put a stop to what we consider to be an act of poisoning,” according to Joseph. “The interest of this action is that people in France now have a means by which to express their concern as citizens by saying publicly “We are aware that the vaccination campaign is a swindle.”

Similar court actions are planned in other areas of the Isére, as well as in Paris, Pau and Nantes, and several hundred vaccine opponents are beginning to organize themselves on the internet with a view to filing class action charges.

The government and health authorities are currently battling to persuade people to get vaccinated against increasingly difficult odds. Opposition to the campaign has been increasing steadily, and various polls taken over the last few days put the figure for those who do not intend to get vaccinated as high as 70 percent.

Their task is being made even more arduous by the fact that while authorities believe on the one hand that vaccination is essential despite negative public reaction, the French have traditionally proved to be very quick to condemn and file charges in cases where not enough was said to be done to prevent other medical mishaps such as the Mad Cow outbreak and an AIDS contamination case, in which several people died and many more became HIV positive after receiving AIDS-contaminated blood transfusions in hospitals.

That signifies that the authorities have very little room to maneuver and are more or less obliged to continue the campaign in order to avoid similar charges should they decide or be forced to abandon the campaign and high numbers of people die as a result of not being vaccinated.In what is being seen as the first of many such actions to come, nine individuals have... more