Language, immigrant status tied to toxic exposure

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/wsu-lis102715.php

Public Release: 28-Oct-2015
Language, immigrant status tied to toxic exposure
Latinos hardest hit
Washington State University

New research finds that economically disadvantaged immigrant neighborhoods of non-English speaking Latinos are more likely to be exposed to cancer-causing air toxics than comparable communities of any other racial group in the United States.

The work, to be published in the November edition of Social Science Research, was done by Washington State University assistant professor of sociology Raoul Liévanos, who married maps of toxic air pollution hotspots with demographic clusters across the United States.

Specifically, Liévanos' work indicates that, in metropolitan areas from Los Angeles to New York City, economically disadvantaged, Latino immigrant neighborhoods have a one-in-three chance of being located in areas with high levels of harmful air pollution.

"Neighborhoods comprised of nonwhite, economically disadvantaged people who do not speak English as a native language and are foreign-born are the most vulnerable to being near these toxic air emissions," Liévanos said. "This is particularly the case with Latino immigrants."

Hazardous air pollutants can cause cancer or other serious reproductive and birth defects. Most originate from automobiles and industrial sources like factories, refineries and power plants.

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In many ways the study illuminates the consequences of segregated housing developments in the United States. In the 1930s, '40 and '50s, many communities across the country were developed in such a way that environmental hazards were located near non-white, foreign born, low-income neighborhoods.

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