TRENTON—Exposure
to dangerous toxic pollution from industrial facilities threatens
communities in New Jersey and across the country, according to a new
report released today by NJPIRG and the NJ Work Environment Council.
The report, Toxic Pollution and Health,
uses information from the federal Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) to
analyze toxic pollution linked to serious health problems such as
cancer, birth defects or neurological damage. Due to a recent EPA
action restricting the public’s right-to-know, today’s report may
provide one of the last complete pictures of toxic pollution in New
Jersey.
In
2004, facilities in New Jersey released to the air and water
approximately 463,000 pounds of toxic chemicals known to cause cancer.
The largest source of this pollution came from the Ferro Corp. Delaware
River plant in Bridgeport which released more than 53,000 pounds of
carcinogens to the air and water.
In
addition to the carcinogens, industrial facilities released to the New
Jersey’s air and water approximately 574,000 pounds of developmental
toxins, 207,000 pounds of reproductive toxins, 5 million pounds of
suspected neurotoxins, 11.4 million pounds of suspected respiratory
toxins, and 31.8 grams of dioxin.
“This
report confirms that communities across New Jersey are routinely put at
risk by toxic pollution linked to serious health impacts,” said Abigail
Field, Advocate for NJPIRG. “These toxic pollutants are the worst of
the worst and pose tangible threats to public health that must be
addressed.”
The
federal Toxic Release Inventory is a public right-to-know program that
requires industrial facilities to publicly disclose their toxic
releases. In 2004, EPA reported that the TRI has helped to reduce toxic
pollution by 57% nationwide since its inception in 1988. Despite this
success, the EPA recently weakened the program by authorizing
industrial facilities to withhold previously reported pollution
information.
“To
address the potential health threats from toxic pollution, we need full
information about what toxics are being released, where, and in what
amounts,” said Field. “Unfortunately, EPA’s attack on the public’s
right-to-know means that New Jersey communities will be left in the
dark about toxic pollution.”
“The
Bush Administration should immediately reverse this policy,” said
Denise Patel, NJ Work Environment Council. “Workers and the public have
the right to know when they are being exposed to dangerous chemicals.
The EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment. They
should be working to make this information more available and urging
the chemical industry to move towards using inherently safer chemicals
and technologies.”
Representatives
Pallone, Holt, Pascrell, Payne, Rothman and Sires and Senators
Lautenberg and Menendez recently challenged EPA’s rollbacks by
introducing and co-sponsoring the Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act
(H.R. 1055 and S. 595). This legislation would reverse the rollbacks to
restore the lost data and ensure that communities have full and
complete access to toxic pollution information.
“We
call on Representatives Fergusen, Saxton, LoBiondo and Smith to support
the public’s right to know and protect New Jersey’s communities by
cosponsoring this legislation,” concluded Field.
