Chemical Alert!: A Community Action Handbook

ISBN: 0292746768

Author: Legator, Marvin S.

Condition: New

In the 1978 Love Canal toxic waste crisis, concerned citizens "did a far better job of evaluating the health of the community than did the professionals of the New York Health Department," asserts Marvin Legator. In Chemical Alert! A Community Action Handbook, he and coeditor Sabrina Strawn offer a step-by-step guide that can be used by any lay person or citizens' group to determine whether a health risk exists in their area.Writing for the general reader with no scientific expertise, environmental, medical, and legal professionals instruct communities on the organizational and investigative techniques that will produce a valid, scientific case study. With these tools, citizens living near petrochemical plants or waste disposal areas-or who may have simply noticed a high incidence of certain health problems in their community-can determine for themselves whether a problem really exists and seek remediation. Given the reality that government agencies often lack the resources-or the will-to detect health hazards before they affect a community, an informed citizenry should be its own best environmental watchdog.