|
Press Release For Immediate Release,
July 8, 2004
Contact: Lorraine Quiroga,
202-833-6130
More than 7 out of 10 Latinos
Live In Polluted Communities
SAN ANTIONIO, TX – A new
report issued today by the League of United
Latin American Citizens (LULAC), with the
support of Clear the Air, found that more than 7
out of 10 Hispanic Americans are breathing air
that violates federal pollution standards.
Hispanic Americans face a threat 16 percent
greater than the overall population.
The report, Air of Injustice:
How Power Plant Pollution Affects the Health of
Hispanics and Latinos, documents the impact of
air pollution on Hispanic Americans,
summarizing, for the first time, the statistics
available regarding the health impacts of this
pollution, and taking a special look at air
pollution from power plants, the largest
industrial source of pollution.
“Our civil rights must include
the right to breathe healthy air, the right to
raise healthy children, the right to challenge
the companies that pollute and petition the
government charged with protecting us,” said
Hector M. Flores, LULAC National President. “On
this, our 75th anniversary, we are
demanding our leaders recognize the effect air
pollution is having on our families and demand
real enforcement of clean air laws and real
steps toward more stringent standards.”
In the Forward to the report,
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson wrote, “This
report confirms what many have feared: Hispanic
communities disproportionately suffer health
problems that result from living with pollution
from power plants. Low-income and minority
populations are subject to elevated
environmental risks throughout the country, so
this finding may not be surprising. But it is
factual information that can provide a
foundation for change.”
For example, the
incidence of asthma in children of Latino
mothers is two and a half times that of
non-Latino white children.
“The Latino community suffers
from the health threats associated with air
pollution at epidemic proportions,” said Angela
Ledford, Director of Clear the Air. “All
Americans deserve stronger safeguards to reduce
pollution from the oldest and dirtiest power
plants. But the tens of millions of Hispanic
Americans who breathe dirty air are among those
with the most to gain – and the most to lose if
we continue doing nothing.”
# # #
|
