Public Health Ethics Intensive Course

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Public Health Ethics Intensive Course NATIONAL CENTER FOR BIOETHICS IN RESEARCH AND HEALTH CARE Public Health Ethics Intensive Course SYLLABUS April 24-26, 2012 Tuskegee University Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center at Tuskegee University COURSE DESCRIPTION The purpose of the Public Health Ethics Intensive Course is to provide a rigorous course for graduate students, faculty, and practitioners that builds capacity and com- petency in public health ethics, bioethics and research ethics, focused specially on the influence of race/ethnicity, gender/sex and class on the spheres of ethics. The pre- sentations, intellectual conversations, and small group discussions will center around salient issues regarding the synergies between bioethics, which includes health care ethics and biomedical research ethics and public health ethics, that focuses on popu- lation health. The unavoidable tension between these spheres of ethics will be the topic of much of the discussions. COURSE OBJECTIVES At the end of the course the participants will be able to: 1) Discuss the ethical challenges and opportunities that influence human subject research, health care delivery, and public health policy and practice; 2) Build on the theoretical foundations and principles of public health ethics by critically engaging practical decision making related to human subject research, health care delivery and public health practice; 3) Articulate how determinative factors such as race/ethnicity, gender/sex, and class play a role in public health ethics by honing skill sets of ethical reasoning. 1 COURSE SCHEDULE Tuesday, April 24, 2012 8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast Auditorium Foyer 9:15 a.m. - 9:25 a.m. Welcome: President Gilbert Rochon, Ph.D., M.P.H. Auditorium 9:25 a.m. – 9:35 a.m. Mayor Omar Neal Auditorium 9:35 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. Chairman Louis Maxwell Auditorium 9:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Overview: Rueben C. Warren, D.D.S., Dr. P.H., M.P.H., M.Div. Auditorium 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Opening Plenary: Bioethics and Public Health Ethics Auditorium Keynote Presenter: Leonard Harris, Ph.D. Responders: Leonard Ortmann, Ph.D. Lucius T. Outlaw, Ph.D. 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Small Group Session Auditorium and Meeting Room D 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch Ballroom A and B 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. The Legacy of the USPHS Syphilis Study Plenary Auditorium Keynote Presenter: Peter J. Paris, Ph.D., M.A. Responders: Ralph V. Katz, D.M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. Riggins R. Earl, Jr., Ph.D. 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Small Group Session Auditorium and Meeting Room D 4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Tour Meet in Hotel Lobby Wednesday, April 25, 2012 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast Auditorium Foyer 8:00a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Ethics and Health Disparities Plenary Ballroom Keynote Presenter: Bailus Walker, Ph.D., M.P.H. Responders: David A. Anderson, D.D.S., M.D.S. Moon S. Chen, Jr., Ph.D., M.P.H. 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Small Group Session Ballroom and Meeting Room D 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Ethics and Health Care Plenary Ballroom Keynote Presenter: Cedric Bright, M.D., FACP Responders: Edward Gabriele, Ph.D. David R. Baines, M.D. 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Small Group Session Ballroom and Meeting Room D 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Lunch Ballroom 2 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Ethics and Environmental Justice Plenary Ballroom Keynote Presenter: Beverly Wright, Ph.D. Responders: Carlton M. Waterhouse, J.D., M.T.S., Ph.D. Stephanie Miles-Richardson, D.V.M., Ph.D. 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Small Group Session Ballroom and Meeting Room D 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Tour Meet in Hotel Lobby Thursday, April 26, 2012 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Ethics and Research Plenary Ballroom Keynote Presenter: Luther Williams, Ph.D. Responders: Vivian Pinn, M.D. Deleso Alford, J.D., LL.M. 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Small Group Session Ballroom and Meeting Room D 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Closing Plenary: Lessons Learned Ballroom Rueben C. Warren, D.D.S., Dr. P.H., M.P.H., M.Div. 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch Ballroom 3 SELECTED COURSE READINGS Bayer, Ronald, Lawrence O. Gostin, Bruce Jennings and Bonnie Steinbock, eds., Public Health Ethics: Theory, Policy and Practice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Gabriele, Edward F. “Ethics Leadership in Research, Healthcare, and Organizational Systems: Commentary and Critical Reflection.” Journal of Research Administration. 42(1): 88-102 (2011). Katz, Ralph, et. al. “The Legacy of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study: Assessing Its Impact on Willingness to Participate in Biomedical Studies.” Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. 19 (2008): 1168- 1180. Katz, Ralph V. and Rueben C. Warren, eds. The Search for the Legacy of the USPHS Syphilis Study. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2011. Pastor, Manuel, Robert D. Bullard, Beverly Wright, et al. In the Wake of the Storm: Environment, Disaster, and Race after Katrina. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2006. Walker, Bailus, Jr., and Rueben Warren. “Convergence of Disciplines: An Approach to Health Disparities Research”, To Be Published. Washington, Deleso Alford. “Examining the ‘Stick’ of Accreditation for Medical Schools Through Reproductive Justice Lens: A Transformative Remedy for Teaching the Tuskegee Syphilis Study”. Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development. 26(1): 153-195 (2012). Washington, Deleso Alford. “Critical Race Feminist Bioethics: Telling Stories in Law School and Medical School in Pursuit of ‘Cultural Competency’”. Albany Law Review. Vol. 72 (2009). Waterhouse, Carlton. “Abandon All Hope Ye That Enter? Equal Protection, Title VI and the Divine Comedy of Environmental Justice.” Fordham Environmental Law Review. (Spring 2009). 4 Leonard Harris, Ph.D., M.A. Leonard Harris is a professor of philosophy at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind. He is director of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy Summer Institute, Critical Pragmatism and Harris’s Insurrectionist Ethics; and Indian Council of Philosophical Research, visiting scholar. He is former director of the Philosophy and Literature Ph.D. Program, and former director of African -American Studies at Purdue University. He has served as non-resident fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research, Harvard University, 2001-2002; and Fulbright Scholar, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, 1998-1999. Harris is former visiting scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, U.K. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, his M.A. in philosophy at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and a B.A. in English and philosophy at Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio. His scholarship includes: co-author of “Philosophic Values and World Citizenship: Locke to Obama and Beyond,” 2010; “Alain L. Locke: The Biography of a Philosopher;” editor of “Racism,” 1999; “The Critical Pragmatism of Alain Locke,” 1999; “Children in Chaos: A Philosophy for Children Experience,”1991; and “Philosophy Born of Struggle: Anthology of Afro- American Philosophy from 1917.” Peter J. Paris, Ph.D., M.A., M.Div. Peter J. Paris is the Elmer G. Homrighausen Professor Emeritus of Christian Social Ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary. He has authored or edited eight books Including “The Spirituality of African Peoples and Religion and Poverty: Pan-African Perspectives”. He has been elected president of four national academic associations in the United States; holds B.A. and M.Div. degrees from Acadia University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from University of Chicago. He has also taught at Howard, Vanderbilt, and Harvard Universities, Union Theological Seminary in New York, and Trinity Theological Seminary in Ghana. Born and raised in Nova Scotia, he holds dual citizenship in Canada and United States. He has lectured widely in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Jamaica, Brazil, India, Canada and the United States. Paris has received four honorary doctoral degrees and is editor of the series, “Religion, Race and Ethnicity” at New York University Press. Bailus Walker, Jr., Ph.D., M.P.H. Bailus Walker, Jr. is professor of environmental and occupational medicine and toxicology at Howard University College of Medicine. He is former professor of environmental health at the School of Public Health, State University of New York in Albany. He has served as dean of the public health faculty at University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center; and former commissioner of Public Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and chairman of the Massachusetts Public Health Council. He has also served as state director of public health for Michigan. Walker is a past president for the American Public Health Association, and a distinguished fellow of the Royal Society of Health (London, England). He is also a distinguished fellow of the American College of Epidemiology. Walker has published over 100 articles in peer- reviewed journals on environmental and occupational risk factors of disease and disability. He is an NIH adviser on environmental and community health aspects of biodefense research and senior science adviser (environmental health) to the National Library of Medicine. He was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine, (IOM) 5 National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Walker has received numerous awards and honors including the Gaylord W. Anderson Distinguished Public Health Leadership Award, the University of Minnesota’s highest honor. Cedric M. Bright, M.D., FACP Dr. Cedric M. Bright was installed as the 112th president of the National Medical Association (NMA) in July 2011. Throughout his career, Bright has championed the elimination of health care disparities. He has been involved in health disparities research and has presented papers and abstracts at multiple national and local venues.
Recommended publications
  • Rebuilding a Healthy New Orleans
    AFTER KATRINA REBUILDING A HEALTHY NEW ORLEANS Final Conference Report of the New Orleans Health Disparities Initiative May 2007 EDITORS Marcheta Gillam • Steve Fischbach • Lynne Wolf • Nkiru Azikiwe • Philip Tegeler SPONSORED BY Poverty & Race Research Action Council Alliance for Healthy Homes Center for Social Inclusion & The Health Policy Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies REBUILDING A HEALTHY NEW ORLEANS Final Conference Report of the New Orleans Health Disparities Initiative TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments ii Introduction and Executive Summary 1 Bob Bullard: Deadly Waiting Game: Addressing Environmental Health Disparities in Communities of Color 7 Shelia Webb: Investments in Human Capital and Healthy Rebuilding in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina 19 Almarie Ford: Cultural Competence In Mental Health Services Post Disasters 31 New Orleans Area Health Disparities Initiative Case Study: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the Bernard-Walker Family 37 Benjamin Springgate, et al: Community-based Participatory Assessment of Health Care Needs in Post-Katrina New Orleans: An Update for Community Members and Advocates 43 Judith Solomon: The Louisiana Health Care Redesign Collaborative 51 APPENDICES Appendix A: Katrina Resources Relating To Health Care Access, Health Disparities and Environmental Justice 59 Appendix B: List of Participants 65 Appendix C: Conference Agenda, New Orleans Area Health Disparities Initiative 69 REBUILDING A HEALTHY NEW ORLEANS i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The New Orleans Health Disparities Initiative has been an ongoing process of sorting out the ways that the Katrina disaster has torn two important pieces of the social fabric – the promise of a relatively healthy urban en- vironment and the quality of health care that is provided for our most vulnerable citizens.
    [Show full text]
  • The Stories of Five Communities
    SURVIVING CANCER ALLEY The Stories of Five Communities Report supported by the Climate Advocacy Lab CANCER ALLEY The Mississippi River Chemical Corridor produces one-fifth of the United States' petrochemicals and transformed one of the poorest, slowest-growing sections of Louisiana into working class communities. Yet this growth has not come without a cost: the narrow corridor absorb more toxic substances annually than do most entire states.1 An 85-mile stretch along the corridor, infamously known as "Cancer Alley," is home to more than 150 heavy industrial facilities, and the air, water, and soil along this corridor are so full of carcinogens and mutagens that it has been described as a "massive human experiment."2 According to the Centers for Disease Control, Louisiana has consistently ranked among the states with the highest rates of cancer. Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping by the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice not only shows a correlation between industrial pollution and race in nine Louisiana parishes along the Corridor, but also finds that pollution sources increase as the population of African Americans increases. MAP OF COMMUNITIES IN LOUISIANA Cancer Alley 1 Norco 3 1 4 2 Convent 2 3 Mossville 4 New Orleans East 2 INTRO HISTORY OF LOUISIANA’S MISSISSIPPI RIVER CHEMICAL CORRIDOR The air, soil, and water along the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor absorb more toxic substances annually than do most entire states. We look briefly at the history and development of this corridor, as well as the founding of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ), to provide the background and context for the case studies that follow.
    [Show full text]
  • Women of the Storm: a Balance of Powers
    Volume 3, Issue No. 2. Women of the Storm: A Balance of Powers Emma Rosenthal Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA ÒÏ Abstract: Women of the Storm (WOS) was formed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina with the goal of engaging local female activists in attracting Congressional attention to the region. The organization, although successful in garnering support for Hurricane recovery, wetland protection, and preventative measures in case of another storm, suffered because of the continued impact of a long history of segregation in women’s activism in New Orleans. The split in past organizational affiliations led to the eventual divide of the group along racial lines. This case explores the historical context under which the organization was challenged, as well as WOS’s leadership, recruitment, trip to Washington, and the ultimate exit of minority members. What could WOS have changed to keep these members? How did the organization fail to integrate all New Orleanians into their civil activism? Women of the Storm serves as an exemplar for women’s response in the wake of a natural disaster, but underscores a cautionary tale of member inclusion and the necessity of diversity as a priority in organizational structure. The Storm and Its Aftermath Blue tarps covered the damage that killed nearly 2,000 people. Houses were scarred with Search and Rescue symbols, noting the absence of life. Abandoned warehouses lay empty and corpses covered the city. Hundreds of miles of neighborhoods were submerged, including the entirety of the Lower Ninth Ward, the heaviest hit area, which was 98.3% African American at the time of the storm (Data Center 2018).
    [Show full text]
  • An Environmental Justice Analysis Twenty-Five Years After Warren County
    UCLA UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy Title Disastrous Response to Natural and Man-Made Disasters: An Environmental Justice Analysis Twenty-Five Years after Warren County Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0ft5n1qr Journal UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, 26(2) Authors Bullard, Robert D. Wright, Beverly Publication Date 2008 DOI 10.5070/L5262019558 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Disastrous Response to Natural and Man-made Disasters: An Environmental Justice Analysis Twenty-Five Years after Warren County Robert D. Bullard* and Beverly Wright** I. INTRODUCTION ..................................... 218 II. STUDIES IN FAILURE: FEDERAL AND STATE RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCIES .... 221 A. Government Response to the PCB Threat in Warren County ................................. 221 1. "Hunt's Dump" ...... ..................... 221 2. Why Warren County? ..... ................. 223 3. The Warren County Siting Decision: A Symptom of a Larger Disease ............. 224 B. The "Dumping Grounds" in a Tennessee Tow n ........................................... 226 1. W hy Eno Road? ....... .................... 229 2. Treatment of the African American Holt Fam ily ..................................... .230 3. Treatment of White Families in Dickson County ..................................... 237 4. Proximity of the Dickson County Landfill to Elected Officials' Homes ............... 240 C. Environmental Threats in post-Katrina New O rleans ........................................ 241 1. Cleaning Up Toxic Neighborhoods ........ 243 * Robert D. Bullard directs the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University. His most recent book is entitled Growing Smarter: Achieving Livable Communities, EnvironmentalJustice and Regional Equity (MIT Press, 2007). ** Beverly Wright directs the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard University. She is one of the nation's leading environmental justice scholars and is a Hurricane Katrina survivor.
    [Show full text]
  • Harmon, Max 2018 Critical Geography Thesis Title
    Harmon, Max 2018 Critical Geography Thesis Title: In the Valley of the Giant: Plantation Geographies of the Lower Mississippi River Advisor: Nicholas Howe Advisor is Co-author: None of the above Second Advisor: Released: release now Contains Copyrighted Material: No In the Valley of the Giant: Plantation Geographies of the Lower Mississippi River by Max Harmon Professor Nicolas Howe, Advisor A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Critical Geography WILLIAMS COLLEGE Williamstown, Massachusetts May 15th 2018 Harmon 2 Acknowledgements This thesis owes itself first and foremost to the support of my friends and family whose care for me and the world have made this project possible and meaningful. Thank you as well you to Professor Howe for helping me to formulate my major in Critical Geography, and for the many hours of advising and support. Thank you especially to Professor Howe for the last several months of dedicated advising on this project. Thank you to Professor Njoya for first suggesting the possibility of a contract major and for the continuing encouragement and invaluable feedback on this project. Thank you to Professor Hidalgo, whose class (and lending of books) in the spring of 2016 marked a turning point in my intellectual and personal development and whose perceptive comments helped clarify this project. Thank you to Professor Eqeiq for a crucially important conversation in developing thoughts for this thesis, and for generally pushing my ideas and forms of expression. Without Professor James Manigault-Bryant’s class on “The Plantation,” many of the ideas in this paper would not have cohered—thank you to JMB for his teaching and support.
    [Show full text]
  • Summary of the Meeting of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council
    SUMMARY OF THE MEETING OF THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ADVISORY COUNCIL Gulfport, Mississippi March 16 and 17, 2016 PREFACE The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) is a federal advisory committee that was established by charter on September 30, 1993, to provide independent advice, consultation, and recommendations to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on matters related to environmental justice. As a federal advisory committee, NEJAC is governed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). Enacted on October 6, 1972, FACA provisions include the following requirements: • Members must be selected and appointed by EPA. • Members must attend and participate fully in meetings. • Meetings must be open to the public, except as specified by the EPA Administrator. • All meetings must be announced in the Federal Register. • Public participation must be allowed at all public meetings. • The public must be provided access to materials distributed during the meeting. • Meeting minutes must be kept and made available to the public. • A designated federal official (DFO) must be present at all meetings. • The advisory committee must provide independent judgment that is not influenced by special interest groups. EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) maintains summary reports and/or transcripts of all NEJAC meetings, which are available on the NEJAC Web site at https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/national-environmental-justice-advisory-council. Copies of materials distributed during
    [Show full text]
  • Hbcus Waging War for Climate Justice
    HBCUs Waging War for Climate Justice Dr. Beverly Wright, executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) and Dr. RoBert Bullard, distinguished professor, Texas Southern University co-convened the 6th Annual HBCU Climate Change Conference in New Orleans, SeptemBer 18 – 23, 2018. President, Dr. Reynold Verret, welcomed conference participants to the Beautiful Xavier University of Louisiana Campus and Mayor LaToya Cantrell took time out of her Busy schedule to welcome conference participants to the City of New Orleans. This year’s theme was, Fighting for our Lives.” Over three hundred students, faculty, staff, faith, environmental justice and community leaders gathered to participate in the discussion about equity, inclusion, sustainability, and adaptation in the face of climate change. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) in attendance included: Alcorn State University, Alabama A & M University, Bethune Cookman University, Dillard University, Fisk University, Florida A & M University, GramBling State University, Howard University, Jackson State University, Kentucky State University, Lincoln University, North Carolina A & M University, South Carolina State University, Southern University A & M, Spelman College, Tennessee State University, Texas Southern University, Virginia State University, and Xavier University of Louisiana. Other university participants included the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment, University of Massachusetts Boston, Emory University – Rollins School of PuBlic Health, Chatham University, HumBoldt State University, Carnegie Mellon University-Heinz College. Four students from De La Salle High School, were also in attendance. The four-day conference included the Plantation to Plant Tour (Cancer Alley), expert panels, student panels, a student poster session, a career fair, two keynote speakers, two interactive workshops and the 2018 Damu Smith Award.
    [Show full text]
  • Making Live and Letting Die in COVID-19: the Biopolitics of Race, Space and Freedom ARTICLE
    Making Live and Letting Die in COVID-19: The Biopolitics of Race, Space and Freedom ARTICLE NED RANDOLPH ABSTRACT CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Ned Randolph This article applies discussions of biopolitics and rationalities by governments to Tulane University, US “make live” and “let die” as a heuristic for the speculative sorting of bodies and their [email protected] antibodies as the United States and individual states lurch toward post-COVID life. It considers how governments rationalize the elimination of certain populations in the name of improving the vitality of the dominant group. Sociologist Michel Foucault, KEYWORDS: who popularized the idea among academics in the late 1970s, called biopolitics the biopolitics; Foucault; COVID-19; application of “life-producing techniques.” Biopolitics operates under the prerogative racism; bodies/antibodies; of whom to “make live” and whom to “let die.” Its applications in the last century liberalism have rationalized the elimination of perceived outgroups to improve the vitality of the nation-state. This article theorizes that the prerogative to “make live” and “let TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: die” functions as a tacit rationale for negotiating pandemic life. As a cultural agent, Randolph, Ned. “Making Live COVID has brought into stark relief the burdens of suffering that U.S. society places on and Letting Die in COVID-19: marginalized communities, particularly African Americans and Latinx populations; as The Biopolitics of Race, Space well as incarcerated and otherwise detained individuals left exposed to virus spread. and Freedom.” SPECTRA 8, no. 2 (2021): pp. 7–18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21061/ spectra.v8i2.178 DISCUSSION Randolph 8 SPECTRA From managing vaccines to countering conspiratorial discourses, negotiating a viral pandemic DOI: 10.21061/spectra.
    [Show full text]
  • Between •Œthe Potentialâ•Š and •Œthe Actualâ•Š: Lead Poisoning In
    Vassar College Digital Window @ Vassar Senior Capstone Projects 2018 Between “the potential” and “the actual”: lead poisoning in New Orleans as state sanctioned environmental racism Eliana Marcus-Tyler Vassar College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalwindow.vassar.edu/senior_capstone Recommended Citation Marcus-Tyler, Eliana, "Between “the potential” and “the actual”: lead poisoning in New Orleans as state sanctioned environmental racism" (2018). Senior Capstone Projects. 778. https://digitalwindow.vassar.edu/senior_capstone/778 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Window @ Vassar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of Digital Window @ Vassar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Vassar College Between “the Potential” and “the Actual”: Lead Poisoning in New Orleans as State Sanctioned Environmental Racism A Thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Bachelor of Arts in Sociology by Eliana Marcus-Tyler Thesis Advisors: Professor Pinar Batur Professor Jasmine Syedullah May 2018 Between “the Potential” and “the Actual”: Lead Poisoning in New Orleans as State Sanctioned Environmental Racism This thesis investigates the relationship between lead poisoning in New Orleans and broader structures and histories of environmental racism in the state of Louisiana. I argue that lead poisoning in the city is not an anomaly, but rather an example of the state-sanctioned environmental racism that is foundational to the economic, political, and social functioning of Louisiana. In this project I draw together definitions of environmental racism; histories of social and environmental degradation in the state; accounts of grassroots activists fighting for their communities; research on the causes of lead poisoning and the subsequent health impacts; and statistics on soil and blood lead in New Orleans.
    [Show full text]
  • The Stories of Five Communities
    SURVIVING CANCER ALLEY The Stories of Five Communities Report supported by the Climate Advocacy Lab CANCER ALLEY The Mississippi River Chemical Corridor produces one-fifth of the United States' petrochemicals and transformed one of the poorest, slowest-growing sections of Louisiana into working class communities. Yet this growth has not come without a cost: the narrow corridor absorb more toxic substances annually than do most entire states.1 An 85-mile stretch along the corridor, infamously known as "Cancer Alley," is home to more than 150 heavy industrial facilities, and the air, water, and soil along this corridor are so full of carcinogens and mutagens that it has been described as a "massive human experiment."2 According to the Centers for Disease Control, Louisiana has consistently ranked among the states with the highest rates of cancer. Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping by the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice not only shows a correlation between industrial pollution and race in nine Louisiana parishes along the Corridor, but also finds that pollution sources increase as the population of African Americans increases. MAP OF COMMUNITIES IN LOUISIANA Cancer Alley 1 Norco 3 1 4 2 Convent 2 3 Mossville 4 New Orleans East 2 INTRO HISTORY OF LOUISIANA’S MISSISSIPPI RIVER CHEMICAL CORRIDOR The air, soil, and water along the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor absorb more toxic substances annually than do most entire states. We look briefly at the history and development of this corridor, as well as the founding of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ), to provide the background and context for the case studies that follow.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Vulnerability and Procedural Equity
    ARPXXX10.1177/0275074019856122The American Review of Public AdministrationDomingue and Emrich 856122research-article2019 Article American Review of Public Administration 1 –17 Social Vulnerability and Procedural Equity: © The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: Exploring the Distribution of Disaster sagepub.com/journals-permissions https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074019856122DOI: 10.1177/0275074019856122 Aid Across Counties in the United States journals.sagepub.com/home/arp Simone J. Domingue1 and Christopher T. Emrich2 Abstract To date, there has been limited research conducted on disaster aid allocation across multiple regions and disasters within the United States. In addition, there is a paucity of research specifically connecting social indicators of vulnerability to public assistance grants aimed at restoring, rebuilding, and mitigating against future damages in disasters. Given these gaps, this article inquires as to whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) public assistance program is characterized by procedural inequities, or disparate outcomes for counties with more socially vulnerable populations. Specifically, this article analyzes county-level FEMA’s Public Assistance distribution following major disaster declarations, while controlling for damages sustained, population, household counts, and FEMA Region. Results indicate that FEMA’s Public Assistance program operates well when accounting only for disaster losses across the years, however, findings also show that county social conditions influence funding
    [Show full text]
  • The Petrochemical Industrial Complex of the St. Charles Parish Industrial Corridor and Its Influence on Urbanization Atternsp
    University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses 12-17-2010 The Petrochemical Industrial Complex of the St. Charles Parish Industrial Corridor and its Influence on Urbanization atternsP Darin Acosta University of New Orleans Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Recommended Citation Acosta, Darin, "The Petrochemical Industrial Complex of the St. Charles Parish Industrial Corridor and its Influence on Urbanization atterns"P (2010). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1265. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1265 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Petrochemical Industrial Complex and its Influence on Urbanization Patterns in the St. Charles Parish, Louisiana Industrial Corridor A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning Land Use/Environment by Darin Acosta B.A.
    [Show full text]