Maywood

Yesterday I went to Maywood here in the Southland. The city is one, if not the most, densely populated cities in the United States. The Environmental Justice issues that engulf that city are astounding. Next door in the city of Vernon, the entire city is a maze of factories which I'm told by Maywood city officials are the source of their EJ problems. On Monday March 2 March 2 meeting of the Bioethics Interest Group will be held. Warren Lux, M.D., Director, Program in Human Research Ethics,U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will talk about Human Environmental Exposure Research: Ethical Considerations and their Regulatory Application.
The topic of Ethical Considerations in EJ Communities is a timely topic and I'm glad to see EPA taking the lead in this important topic.

Beyond Translation

EPA Region 6 has a great program called Beyond Translation. This program strives to engage the Latino community on EJ issues in a proactive way. Too often, Environmental Justice is done by reviewing census tracts and putting together reports. That is not true Environmental Justice outreach. Outreach means going into the disadvantaged communities and talking to people in their own language whatever that may be. Beyond Translation, led by Paula Flores-Gregg, do much more than translate materials into Spanish and do collateral drops. I'm hoping that this program will catch on in the other EPA regions throughout the US.