A Cumulative Framework for Identifying Overburdened Populations under the Toxic Substances Control Act: Formaldehyde Case Study

Kristi Pullen Fedinick, Ilch Yiliqi, Yukyan Lam, David Lennett, Veena Singla, Miriam Rotkin-Ellman and Jennifer Sass
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Kristi Pullen Fedinick: Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY 10011, USA
Ilch Yiliqi: Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY 10011, USA
Yukyan Lam: Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY 10011, USA
David Lennett: Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY 10011, USA
Veena Singla: Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY 10011, USA
Miriam Rotkin-Ellman: Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY 10011, USA
Jennifer Sass: Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY 10011, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: Extensive scholarship has demonstrated that communities of color, low-income communities, and Indigenous communities face greater environmental and health hazards compared to communities with more White or affluent people. Low-income, Indigenous, Black, and/or other populations of color are also more likely to lack access to health care facilities, healthy food, and adequate formal education opportunities. Despite the mountains of evidence that demonstrate the existence and significance of the elevated toxic social and environmental exposures experienced by these communities, the inclusion of these factors into chemical evaluations has been scarce. In this paper, we demonstrate a process built with publicly available data and simple geospatial techniques that could be utilized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to incorporate cumulative approaches into risk assessments under the Toxic Substances Control Act. The use of these approaches, particularly as they relate to identifying potentially exposed and susceptible subpopulations, would help USEPA develop appropriate risk estimates and mitigation strategies to protect disproportionately burdened populations from the adverse effects of chemical exposures. By utilizing such approaches to inform risk evaluation and mitigation, USEPA can identify and protect those most burdened and impacted by toxic chemicals, and finally begin to close the gap of environmental health inequities.

Keywords: multiple burdens; environmental justice; environmental policy; cumulative exposures; cumulative risk; pollution; community vulnerability; toxic chemicals; hazardous chemicals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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