Case Studies in Industrial Contamination

by

Devra L. Davis, Sarina T. Scott

• LAST REVIEWED: 24 March 2021
• LAST MODIFIED: 26 July 2017
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199363445-0077

Introduction

Evaluating the public health impact of industrial contamination is one of the most challenging subjects for investigators, as their work typically takes place in the context of intense public scrutiny. Thus, instances such as Love Canal, New York, and Times Beach, Missouri, first came to public attention when media began to report that concerned citizens were questioning whether patterns of illness in their children could be explained by geography. Retrospective analyses of chronic illness are limited by poor ascertainment both of diseases and potential exposures and the lack of systematic efforts to collect relevant information regarding immediate and longer-term environmental conditions. Adding to the analytic difficulty is the fact that clusters of illness cannot easily be differentiated from chance occurrences. While trend analyses of geographic patterns can be instructive, they are best suited to hypothesis-generation and cannot be used as scientific evidence of harm. Further compounding the evaluation of contamination is the fact that the evidentiary burdens of law and science differ in their requirements for statistical tests of information. While public health science asks for evidence that a given finding reaches the .05 probability of being due to chance, law may only require that the association be more likely than not. The materials assembled here make clear that corporate and public health interests have frequently clashed when it comes to evaluating industrial contamination, with the former exerting considerable influence on the latter.

General Overviews

Investigations of industrial contamination take place under the glare of intense public scrutiny. Essentially they must rely on two basic types of evidence: experimental studies under controlled conditions of animals exposed to sufficient doses in their short lifetimes that approximate widely encountered real-life conditions or several types of epidemiological investigations, including, case control studies comparing individuals with specific diseases with those who are otherwise similar but lack that same disease to determine what past conditions or environmental exposures might account for the disease being studied, disease patterns tied with retrospective analyses of reported or estimated exposures in certain areas of a population, and cross-sectional analyses of current patterns of disease in populations contrasting rates of those with higher exposures to those with little or no exposures. Yang 2011 addresses the how detailed information about exposure can be quite difficult to obtain because of a lack of systematic efforts to record such data; confidentiality claims surrounding information on production, transportation, and disposal; and organized public relations efforts to suppress information, as is well-documented in Davis and Webster 2002 and Walker 2017. Given the documented challenges of reconstructing histories of industrial exposures, a number of investigators, including Clapp, et al. 2008 and Yang 2011 have advocated for the validation of molecular biomarkers of exposure, pre-clinical indicators of disease, and predictors of prognosis. Tomatis 2000; Davis and Webster 2002; Clapp, et al. 2008; and Yang 2011 focus on the importance of using the theory of primary prevention and the precautionary principle as a foundation for public health measures to avoid damage.

• Clapp, Richard W., Molly M. Jacobs, and Edward L. Loechler. 2008. Environmental and occupational causes of cancer: New evidence 2005–2007. Reviews on Environmental Health 23.1: 1–38.

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  This publication reviews current epidemiological evidence of environmental contributions to cancer and acknowledges the multi-factorial nature of occupational and environmental cancers. Included is an argument for the use of molecular biology and toxicology approaches in addition to epidemiology in order to assure harm reduction focusing mainly on active prevention of exposure.

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• Davis, Devra Lee, and Pamela S. Webster. 2002. The social context of science: Cancer and the environment. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 584.1: 13–34.

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  This overview highlights science as a social institution and the economic and political forces that determine societal responses to cancer. The authors discuss cancer incidence in the context of environmental exposure and the emergence of disease trends. Due to the social complexities surrounding cancer, Davis and Webster argue for population-based efforts to reduce exposures consistent with preserving sustainable development and implementing the precautionary principle.

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• Tomatis, Lorenzo. 2000. The identification of human carcinogens and primary prevention of cancer. Mutation Research/Reviews in Mutation Research 462.2: 407–421.

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  Discussion of primary care prevention by the extensively cited and respected advocate of public health Lorenzo Tomatis. Principal limitations of environmental cancer prevention are noted, and extensive tables displaying known carcinogens and their agents, target organs, and exposures are included. The present article and other works by Tomatis set an important framework for subsequent literature and efforts to predict and prevent disease rather than merely document its occurrence.

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• Walker, Martin. 2017. Corporate ties that bind: An examination of corporate manipulation and vested interest in public health. New York: Skyhorse.

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  Examination of substantial medical evidence indicating irreversible harms to human health caused by corporate-led exposure to toxic chemicals. Industry support of known toxins and widespread denial of deleterious health effects are discussed for a number of industries ranging from pesticides and toxic chemicals to telecommunications, along with the general lack of corporate accountability.

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• Yang, Mihi. 2011. A current global view of environmental and occupational cancers. Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part C 29.3: 223–249.

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  Brief overview of statistics within and characteristics of environmental and occupational cancers, followed by a discussion of the inconsistency in environmental cancers between developed and developing countries. Consistent with basic public health concepts of preventing damage, Yang calls for primary prevention methods, along with the development of more accurate biomarkers—noting that mixed exposure techniques must be utilized.

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Books and Edited Volumes

Analyses of the impacts of industrial contamination integrate a wide-ranging set of fields from applied geochemistry to groundwater modeling to toxicology, epidemiology, and public health. Adding to the difficulties of studying industrial contamination is the fact that political and economic factors often influence what information is publicly available and what data are collected and made available for evaluation, as discussed in Davis 2007, Epstein 1998, Markowitz and Rosner 2013, and Oreskes and Conway 2010. The books and articles noted here document the political context of research on industrial contamination as well as limitations posed by the cross-disciplinary nature of the research. Charbotel, et al. 2014 and Plant, et al. 2011 use epidemiology and toxicology to discuss the specifics of occupational exposures and their effects in science-based works. Checkoway, et al. 2004 provides a thorough overview of research methods affecting the study of occupational exposure, while National Research Council 1991 outlines the uphill battle often fought for occupational and public health in proving harm rather than proving safety through precautionary measures.

• Charbotel, B., B. Fervers, and J. P. Droz. 2014. Occupational exposures in rare cancers: A critical review of the literature. Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology 90.2: 99–134.

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  Comprehensive review of occupational exposures linked to the development of rare cancers, noting cancer site, strength of causal association, and specific cancer type. Review is based on published epidemiological studies and IARC monographs that review both toxicology and epidemiology studies of relevance.

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• Checkoway, Harvey, Neil Pearce, and David Kriebel. 2004. Research methods in occupational epidemiology. Vol. 34. New York: Oxford Univ. Press

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  A comprehensive presentation of the strengths and limitations of various retrospective or prospective methods applied to studying workplace hazards.

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• Davis, Devra. 2007. The secret history of the war on cancer. New York: Basic Books.

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  Documents the ways in which highly profitable industries ranging from tobacco to vinyl chloride, benzene, and asbestos, create scientific uncertainty and the manufacture of doubt in order to delay efforts to curtail or limit production and regulation. Preventing cancer remains a challenging endeavor in light of the highly organized use of public relations by industrial manufacturers of toxic hazards.

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• Epstein, Samuel. 1998. The politics of cancer revisited. Fremont Center, NY: East Ridge.

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  A historic analysis of the duplicity of many titans of the tobacco and chemical industry who became leaders in the early war on cancer that focused on finding and treating the disease rather than on determining ways to prevent it from arising.

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• Markowitz, Gerald, and David Rosner. 2013. Deceit and denial: The deadly politics of industrial pollution. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.

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  A thorough history of economic and public relations campaigns to discredit researchers who raise questions about the safety of highly profitable agents. Following asbestos, vinyl chloride, and other industries, this book documents corporate strategies that use science to obfuscate and confuse the public and policymakers.

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• National Research Council. 1991. Environmental epidemiology. Vol. 1, Public health and hazardous wastes. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

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  A historic overview of the methodological and policy challenges facing a field charged with proving harm has already happened in order to justify taking steps to reduce exposures to suspected agents in the future. Arguing that public health decisions cannot afford to wait for definitive proof, the report calls for a precautionary approach to environmental policies aimed at reducing toxic exposures and substituting less toxic materials for their more toxic counterparts.

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• Oreskes, Naomi, and Erik Conway. 2010. Merchants of doubt: How a handful of scientists obscured the truth on issues from tobacco smoke to global warming. London: Bloomsbury.

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  Oreskes and Conway historically unravel the denial of well-established science and fabrication of doubt within the American public by a group of industry-funded, politically tied scientists. The authors shed light on the complex misuse of science and distortion of truth fueled by industry in their decades-long battles on tobacco, acid rain, the ozone hole, global warming, and DDT.

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• Plant, Jane A., James Bone, Kristin Vala Ragnarsdottir, and Nickalaos Voulvoulis. 2011. Pollutants, human health and the environment—A risk-based approach. Applied Geochemistry 26:S238–S240.

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  Concise compilation of individual toxic substances, their source(s) and history of use, routes of exposures, known effects on the human body, and potential health risks. Most useful for health professionals, scientists, or science-focused postgraduates interested in hazardous substances within the environment and their effects on the human body.

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Challenges in the Study of Industrial Contamination

Clusters of disease in specific contaminated zones are quite difficult to evaluate, as a certain number of clusters will occur just as random events. The classic work Hernberg 1991 addresses the pitfall epidemiological studies often succumb to due to methodological errors, causing the study to produce a false negative result, while Christensen, et al. 2015 assesses alternate methodological challenges in epidemiology. For the most part, epidemiological studies are best suited to detailing the consequences of past episodes of major pollution. But in the absence of an epidemic, highly sophisticated analyses can be developed that can establish causal relationships. Recent innovations in analysis of large-scale, big complex data set analysis of air pollution have established new methods of statistical modeling of birth, age, and time-period cohorts for linking small changes in pollutants to significant patterns of chronic health outcomes. Such innovations are used in sophisticated risk assessment, as discussed in Christensen, et al. 2015. For a second revolutionary risk assessment system, Geographic Information System analyses (GIS), see Mohai and Saha 2007, which discusses how researchers assess social and racial disparities in affected communities. Finally, Ashford, et al. 2002; Egilman and Bohme 2014; Gennaro and Tomatis 2013; and Hardell, et al. 2007 focus on the strong influence of industry and politics that has historically been used to skew data, minimize corporate responsibility, and mislead the public on the study of industrial contamination.

• Ashford, Nicholas A., Barry Castleman, Arthur L. Frank, et al. 2002. The International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) and its influence on international organizations. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health 8.2: 156–162.

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  Funded through direct and indirect corporate support, the ICOH has played a critical role in setting standards for occupational exposure to agents that are widely used in commerce. This classic work documents the close ties that many leaders of the organization have with the industries responsible for producing industrial compounds for which regulations are advised. Although ICOH is recognized as a nonprofit organization affiliated with the World Health Organization and the Industrial Labor Organization, its independent credibility cannot be established.

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• Christensen, Krista, Carol H. Christensen, Michael Wright, et al. 2015. The use of epidemiology in risk assessment: Challenges and opportunities. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal 21.6: 1644–1663.

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  Because of the retrospective nature of most epidemiological studies, those charged with assessing workplace and environmental risks rely on evidence from other disciplines including toxicology and exposure modeling. The authors identify three major methodological challenges in evaluating these risks: error in exposure measurement, potential confounding in health data measurement, and the interpretation of nonlinear exposure response data. Techniques for minimizing these problems are explored.

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• Egilman, David S., and Susanna Rankin Bohme. 2014. Corporate corruption of science and its effects on workers and the environment. Chain Reaction 121:20–23.

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  This report details how manipulation of data and analysis can maximize industrial profits and minimize corporate accountability. Billions are spent defending toxic industries through sponsored research, conferences, publications, and science-for-hire firms. Egilman and Bohme detail that among the techniques used to enhance corporate performance are those that shift the costs of cleaning up air and water pollution generated by industrial facilities over to the public.

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• Gennaro, Valerio, and Lorenzo Tomatis. 2013. Business bias: How epidemiologic studies may underestimate or fail to detect increased risks of cancer and other diseases. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health 11.4: 356–359.

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  In this definitive work, the authors detail specific ways that flawed epidemiologic studies are designed to support industry and identify fifteen study design flaws that can produce dangerously misleading results. They show how occupational and environmental studies that are directly or indirectly sponsored by multinational corporations are designed to fail, that is, find no effect when a true one may in fact be the case. Corporate sponsorship of studies often results in biased outcomes and should be critically reviewed.

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• Hardell, Lennart, Martin J. Walker, Bo Walhjalt, Lee S. Friedman, and Elihu D. Richter. 2007. Secret ties to industry and conflicting interests in cancer research. American Journal of Industrial Medicine 50.3: 227–233.

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  This report documents the extent to which industrial sponsorship and consultancies with university professors provide an important conflict of interest that in many instances remains hidden and unacknowledged. In Sweden, the United States, and the United Kingdom, specific examples of such hidden industrial sponsorship are documented as a way to illustrate the scale and scope of the problem of biased research on industrial contamination. The authors call for transparency of sponsorship and more support for independent research.

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• Hernberg, S. 1991. The role of “negative” and “nonpositive” studies in occupational epidemiology. In Risk Assessment in Chemical Carcinogenesis. Edited by Gotthard Schettler, Dietrich Schmähl, and Thomas Klenner, 104–112. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

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  Major methodological challenges exist with respect to findings of no-risk in epidemiological studies of the workplace. Because of incomplete ascertainment of the key cohort of exposed workers as well as misclassification of exposure, Hernberg explains how workplace epidemiological findings can be biased toward a type II error of false negative result indicating no risk when a true one in fact occurs.

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• Mohai, Paul, and Robin Saha. 2007. Racial inequality in the distribution of hazardous waste: A national-level reassessment. Social Problems 54.3: 343–370.

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  Geographic Information System (GIS) analyses can take into account proximity to hazardous waste facilities and the racial composition of residents evaluated at the level of the census tract in order to analyze the connection between racial inequality and hazardous waste facilities. Using an improved GIS approach, the authors report within this essential work that racial disparities in hazardous waste siting are even more pronounced than previous studies had indicated.

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• Ozonoff, David, and Leslie I. Boden. 1987. Truth and consequences: Health agency responses to environmental health problems. Science, Technology, & Human Values 12.3–4: 70–77.

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  In many instances of publicly expressed concern about environmental contamination, departments of public health have become departments of public reassurance. This paper explains how well-intentioned public health officials sometimes find it difficult to communicate in a straightforward manner about the many uncertainties facing those who seek to evaluate the health effects of toxic exposures.

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Exposure Assessment

For the study of chronic diseases, information on environmental exposures is often reconstructed from secondary data such as emission inventories, monitored or estimated water or air pollution values, sales records for pesticides and other chemicals, and other indirect indicators of ambient conditions. Where self-reported information is provided, this can also be notoriously unreliable, especially if questioned individuals are aware of possible hypothesized relationships. Blair, et al. 2007; Lioy 2010; Rodricks 2006; and White, et al. 2008 focus on the complexity of exposure assessment and the many confounding variables and misclassifications that often befall research. Due to such complexities and the lack of standard metrics for measuring or estimating industrial contamination, epidemiological studies are systematically biased toward the null hypothesis: that is, a finding of no effect when a true one might actually exist. A revolutionary yet classic work, Dor, et al. 1999 discusses the use of biomarkers as indicators of exposure and useful tools for accurate assessment. Efforts to establish and maintain records of industrial production and pollution are critical to the ability to develop constructive analyses of how contamination impacts public health and the environment. The National Research Council 2012 discusses such efforts, providing a thorough report on best practices for valid exposure assessment.

• Blair, Aaron, Patricia Stewart, Jay H. Lubin, and Francesco Forastiere. 2007. Methodological issues regarding confounding and exposure misclassification in epidemiological studies of occupational exposures. American Journal of Industrial Medicine 50.3: 199–207.

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  A detailed, thorough review of various errors that affect the capacity to estimate or model exposures to workplace conditions. These include the absence of comprehensive exposure, misclassification of disease, incomplete ascertainment of relevant workplace cohorts, and failure to include confounding exposures. The authors describe how positive results in occupational epidemiology tend to systematically underrepresent true risks due to these common problems of data collection.

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• Dor, Frédéric, William Dab, Pascal Empereur-Bissonnet, and Denis Zmirou. 1999. Validity of biomarkers in environmental health studies: The case of PAHs and benzene. Critical Reviews in Toxicology 29.2: 129–168.

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  Biomarkers are discussed as a means of estimating exposures and dose at the target tissue. Biochemical indicators or markers of exposure must be carefully validated through experimental and clinical studies. This report remains a foundational advance within toxicology and evaluating risk of disease for populations exposed to occupational hazards.

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• Lioy, Paul J. 2010. Exposure science: A view of the past and milestones for the future. Environmental Health Perspectives 118.8: 1081–1090.

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  Written by a respected and influential dean of the field, this overview discusses pitfalls of efforts to guesstimate exposures, methods of modeling ambient environmental conditions, and the many challenges posed by complex environmental chemistry of agents that naturally change from particulate to gaseous phase depending on temperature and humidity.

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• National Research Council. 2012. Exposure science in the 21st century: A vision and a strategy. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

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  Prepared by a committee of top specialists in the field, this interdisciplinary report outlines the life-cycle approach that should be taken to estimate exposures from the generation and production of materials, through their uses in the environment, to their ultimate disposal or recycling where possible. For heavy metals, efforts to reduce and restrict use are critical because disposal is often prohibitively expensive.

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• Rodricks, Joseph V. 2006. From dose to toxic response. In Calculated risks: The toxicity and human health risks of chemicals in our environment. 2d ed. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.

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  Explains the important distinctions between exposure in the general environment, inhaled or absorbed exposure within the body, and biologically effective dose at the target tissue. This book remains a staple material for professionals and students wanting to understand risk assessment, risk assessment theory, environmental pollution, and the protection of public health.

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• White, Emily, Bruce K. Armstrong, and Rodolfo Saracci. 2008. Principles of exposure measurement in epidemiology: Collecting, evaluating and improving measures of disease risk factors. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

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  Clarifies the complex nature of exposure, which encompasses many variables, including host factors, medical history and underlying conditions, nutritional and other lifestyle factors, and workplace and other physical chemical environmental exposures. White acknowledges that the relationship between exposure and disease can be thought of as a continuum linking the two through a line of different variables.

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Public Health and Environmental Impacts of Toxic Exposure

Further compounding the evaluation of contamination is the fact that the evidentiary burdens of law and science differ in their requirements for statistical tests of information. While science asks for evidence that a given finding reaches the .05 probability of being due to chance, law may only require that the association be more likely than not. The materials assembled here make clear that corporate and public health interests have frequently clashed when it comes to evaluating industrial contamination, with the former exerting considerable influence on the latter. Driscoll, et al. 2005; Prüss-Ustün, et al. 2011; and Purdue, et al. 2015 focus on the global impact of exposure to industrial and occupational toxins and the subsequent burden of disease. Broto 2015 and Zhuang, et al. 2016 provide a current review of the complex physical, mental, emotional, and social impacts of living within a contaminated environment. Using a combination of case study and current literature, Bevc, et al. 2007 focuses on health effects of contamination through an environmental justice lens. Lastly, Mumtaz, et al. 2004 examines the role of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) on US toxic exposure in a well-written review.

• Bevc, Christine A., Brent K. Marshall, and J. Steven Picou. 2007. Environmental justice and toxic exposure: Toward a spatial model of physical health and psychological well-being. Social Science Research 36.1: 48–67.

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  In an effort to assess the long-term health effects of toxic exposure, this study first reviews the current environmental justice research, then utilizes an environmental justice case study to illustrate a methodological strategy to determine accurate health effects of toxic exposure while moving beyond the proximity-exposure assumption.

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• Broto, Vanesa Cantán. 2015. Dwelling in a pollution landscape. In The anthropology of postindustrialism: Ethnographies of disconnection. Edited by Ismael Vaccaro, Krista Harper, Seth Murray, 91–112. Routledge Studies in Anthropology 27. New York: Routledge.

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  A well-written chapter from a collection of ethnographic case studies that explores the after-effects of postindustrial capitalism. In chapter six, Broto describes the socio-nature interactions that took place during the postindustrial period and how pollution actively influenced the daily lives, experiences, and thoughts of those “dwelling” in postindustrial landscapes. Broto’s chapter illustrates a subsection of postindustrialism, while the volume is a thorough and contemporary discussion of the mechanisms of postindustrial capitalism.

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• Driscoll, Timothy, Deborah Imel Nelson, Kyle Steenland, et al. 2005. The global burden of disease due to occupational carcinogens. American Journal of Industrial Medicine 48.6: 419–431.

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  Using workforce data, the Carcinogen Exposure database, and risk measure estimates, this team estimates the impact of occupational carcinogen exposures on mortality and morbidity prior to the year 2000. This highly cited work includes references commenting on current work and previous methods of determining the global burden of disease.

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• Mumtaz, M. M., C. T. De Rosa, W. Cibulas, and H. Falk. 2004. Seeking solutions to chemical mixtures challenges in public health. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 18.2: 55–63.

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  Review of the research tasks and legislative mandates assigned to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and involvement of the ATSDR in the International Conference on Chemical Mixtures in 2002. Topics of discussion include the importance of understanding the toxicity of chemical mixtures, the pervasive nature of mixtures on human health, and the validity of dose-response additivity assessments.

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• Prüss-Ustün, Annette, Carolyn Vickers, Pascal Haefliger, and Roberto Bertollini. 2011. Knowns and unknowns on burden of disease due to chemicals: A systematic review. Environmental Health 10.1: 1–15.

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  Systematic review of peer-reviewed studies is carried out in order to estimate the current global burden of chronic disease due to toxic chemical exposure, taking into account specific health impacts tied to industrial chemicals. The authors’ report identifies critical data gaps in assessing the burden of toxic chemicals on health and discusses the challenges of developing public policy in light of major gaps in information. Nearly 100 well-referenced citations are included.

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• Purdue, Mark P., Sally J. Hutchings, Lesley Rushton, and Debra T. Silverman. 2015. The proportion of cancer attributable to occupational exposures. Annals of Epidemiology 25.3: 188–192.

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  Recent literature review providing an estimated population attributable fraction (PAF) of total global cancer attributed to occupational exposures to carcinogens. Authors discuss the difficulties associated with accurately determining the PAF, using a case study to illustrate the methodological complexities involved.

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• Zhuang, Jie, Jeff Cox, Shannon Cruz, James W. Dearing, Joseph A. Hamm, and Brad Upham. 2016. Environmental stigma resident responses to living in a contaminated area. American Behavioral Scientist 60.11: 1322–1341.

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  Research addressing the environmental stigma often associated with individuals living within a contaminated landscape—including the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive responses to the presence of a known industrial contaminant within a community. This is a well-written case study containing many highly cited references, to be utilized by students and professors seeking an illustration of the stigma of industrial contamination.

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Remediation

Socioeconomic factors play critical roles in determining what instances of environmental pollution are subject to remediation, the extent to which such remediation is undertaken, and whether or not compensation is provided to the immediate victims of pollution. The most cost-effective way to remediate pollution is to prevent exposures upstream within factory walls or at the point of generation rather than downstream at the point of release into the general environment. More than a century of studies show that workplace and other factors contribute to cancer and other chronic diseases, and that the poor suffer more from avoidable toxic exposures. As discussed in the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control 2006 and the classic Tomatis 2006, remediation remains a costly alternative to primary prevention of pollution. Pollution disproportionately affects the poor and working class, who are often racial minorities who lack access to clean air and water in their communities. Taylor 2014 focuses on this disparity, assessing the legal and regulatory differences in remediation due to one’s race. Similarly, the Committee on Environmental and Public Works 1980 addresses environmental injustice and inadequate remediation through the use of six landmark case studies. Farmer and Jarvis 2009 and Hutchings, et al. 2012 focus on remediation strategies, reviewing past methods and suggesting future interventions.

• Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control. 2006. Prevention of occupational and environmental cancers in Canada: A best practices review and recommendations. National Committee on Environmental and Occupational Exposures.

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  Lengthy report in which the National Committee on Environmental and Occupational Exposures details best practices of primary exposure prevention to environmental and occupational toxins in Canada. Current US and European strategies are mentioned and compared to Canadian initiatives. Priority recommendations are stated and thoroughly discussed, and numerous references are provided.

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• Committee on Environmental and Public Works. 1980. Six case studies of compensation for toxic substances pollution: Alabama, California, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Texas. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

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  Comprehensive report put forth by the Environmental Law Institute detailing specific case studies of toxic contamination and resultant compensation awarded for public health and environmental damages. Results illustrate insufficient remediation was provided for the majority of the industrial pollution incidents evaluated. This landmark study was used in Congress to support passage in 1980 of the Superfund law known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund).

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• Farmer, John G., and Richard Jarvis. 2009. Strategies for improving human health in contaminated situations: A review of past, present and possible future approaches. Environmental Geochemistry and Health 31.2: 227–238.

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  This literature review assesses tactics typically employed to remediate environmental contamination and damage to human health. Special attention is given to broad public health initiatives based on a thorough knowledge of epidemiology and the socioeconomic issues surrounding the remediation of industrial wastes. This work would be best utilized by students or academics as a tool to guide further research.

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• Hutchings, Sally, John W. Cherrie, Martie Van Tongeren, and Lesley Rushton. 2012. Intervening to reduce the future burden of occupational cancer in Britain: What could work? Cancer Prevention Research 5.10: 1213–1222.

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  Using data-based risk estimates, this work assesses the current occupational cancer burden of Great Britain. Authors discuss the projected number of cancer cases, with and without specific exposure intervention techniques. Strategies are reviewed to reduce occupational exposure to carcinogens and maintain industry compliance with exposure limits. Predictions made in this work have been and can be utilized by further research to assess occupational cancer risk and discuss solution opportunities.

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• Taylor, Dorceta. 2014. Enforcing environmental protections: The legal, regulatory, and administrative contexts. In Toxic communities: Environmental racism, industrial pollution, and residential mobility. By Dorceta Taylor, 98–122. New York: New York Univ. Press.

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  Chapter from a well-written book discussing communities affected by industrial pollution and environmental injustice. Recent literature and relevant case studies show that the legal, regulatory, and administrative remediation for persons exposed to industrial pollution is often discriminatory with respect to the victims’ race and socioeconomic status. Dorceta also examines how regulatory policies and environmental protection laws contribute to environmental racism.

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• Tomatis, Lorenzo. 2006. Identification of carcinogenic agents and primary prevention of cancer. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1076.1: 1–14.

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  Dr. Lorenzo Tomatis, the former director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer and a leading proponent of primary prevention of environmental cancers, presents a lecture following his acceptance of the 2005 Ramazzini Award. Tomatis discusses the significance of valid and reliable data, well-directed funding, logical attribution of risks, and systematic subversion of evidence with respect to occupational carcinogens. His work is highly referenced and continues to be an excellent overview of primary prevention.

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Case Studies

The following selected case studies represent isolated incidences of industrial contamination. Each contains vital information related to the complexities of epidemiology and gives insight into ways in which industrial contamination may be prevented in the future. Examining relevant case studies continues to be an excellent way to increase one’s knowledge about a particular field. The following citations represent the most well-written, comprehensive references currently available for each case study.