EPA to target Southeast Asians for education on dioxins
in river
Copyright 1999 Associated Press
January 22, 1999
A few years ago, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency told a Southeast Asian group about
the potential dangers of fishing in certain
areas of the dioxin-contaminated Woonasquatucket River.
But Joseph Le, executive director of the Socio-Economic
Development Center for
Southeast
Asian Populations, said he has not heard from the
EPA since and was not notified of the recent discovery of more
dioxin near the
river.
"I haven't seen any kind of outreach or fliers to try
to inform the Southeast
Asian community," Le told The Providence Journal.
The
EPA and state officials acknowledge that not enough has been done
to notify
Southeast Asians about the high levels of dioxin contained in the
river's fish
and the soil along its banks.
Southeast Asians are considered to be most at risk because
they use the river
for subsistence fishing, although most of the evidence is
anecdotal. Fishing in the river is considered a much greater health
risk than
exposure to its soil or sediment.
Although the
EPA learned about dioxins in the fish three years ago, efforts to
keep people from
fishing in the river have not been directed at Southeast Asians.
Instead,
pamphlets and warning signs were printed last summer in English and
Spanish.
The signs also picture a knife, a fork, and a fish with a slash
through it.
"You need to do more than put up signs along the
river," said Robert Mendoza, director of the
EPA's Rhode Island
office.
"You need more direct interaction."
Mendoza said the
EPA and others are stepping up their efforts to get the word out to
the Southeast
Asian community.
Pamphlets on dioxin will be translated into Southeast Asian
languages, health
officials may walk though neighborhoods to spread the message and
public
meetings will be held.
Louise House, an environmental scientist with the Agency
for Toxic Substances,
said language can be a major barrier in trying to inform Southeast
Asians
because they may not be familiar with terms used to talk about
dioxin exposure.
"It's not easy to
get the message across when they don't have those words in their
language," House said.
"I wonder what they think when they see those signs."
Le says it's easy for his group to spread the word to the
relatively large
Cambodian, Laotian, Hmong and Vietnamese populations in Rhode
Island. But Le
said he
first needs to be informed of the contamination.
Providence residents concerned about the contamination
found in North
Providence were told Thursday that dioxin levels at Providence
sites were
relatively low. Officials warned residents against eating fish, but
said
boating and swimming are safe.
Last week, the
EPA released results of tests taken last fall in North Providence
that showed
levels of dioxin as high as 14.8 times the safe limit established
by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The
EPA will spend an additional $ 1 million to speed up and expand
efforts to study the contamination problem.
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