I was recently an invited speaker at a conference on health and human rights at Seoul National University in South Korea. The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the School of Public Health and I was asked to give a keynote address on the “right to know”. It’s an important issue in Seoul because a number of young workers at Samsung factories have become ill (some have died) and the company refuses to provide information on hazardous exposures claiming “trade secrets”. Although community and worker rights to information about dangerous chemicals and processes were won in the United States in the 1980’s, the issue is still a live one: BP refused to give information to the public on the chemical dispersant used in the Gulf of Mexico claiming trade secrets, but EPA (which did get the information) was badgered by the press until it finally released the data.
Continue reading Worker Rights are Human Rightschucklev
According to the EPA, more than 53 million children and about 6 million adults spend a substantial part of their days in schools. The EPA has recognized that many schools have environmental problems, and, in 1995, released the first edition of its Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools kit to encourage school districts to address environmental problems. The EPA estimates that an average of one out of 13 school-age children has asthma, and that asthma is a leading cause of student absenteeism.
Health concerns in schools are not limited to indoor air quality. Recently, schools are identifying and remediating PCBs found in building materials. As the public considers how to develop policies to respond to school-based health issues, they often consider AHERA, the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act as a model for regulating health issues in schools.
Continue reading Asbestos Canaries in the Schools