CHEJ has donated many of its publications, documents and files generated over the past 30 years to Tufts University in Medford, MA. 

These historical records are now accessible through the Tufts University Digital Library, the home to CHEJ’s archival records dating back to 1981 when the organization was founded. Included are CHEJ publications such Everyone’s Backyard, Environmental Health Monthly, Action Line and numerous guidebooks and fact-packs; community newsletters; newspaper clippings; general office files; files from our Grassroots Conventions; special projects files; mini-grant files; and the personal files of Lois Gibbs, CHEJ executive Director and Stephen Lester, CHEJ’s Science Director. Many issues of Everyone’s Backyard are available online already here.

Also included in the archives are the personal files and documents related to Lois’ work at Love Canal in Niagara Falls, NY, including files maintained by the Love Canal Homeowners Association. 

At some time all of Lois’ and Stephen’s files and documents related to their work at Love Canal will be donated to these archives.

These files and documents provide a historical view of CHEJ’s pioneering work to organize grassroots communities in their fight for Environmental Justice. The research guide for CHEJ's records can be found here.

A Report from the Children’s Environmental Health Center of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Interesting even if you’re not from NY.  There are some good summaries (with references) of the science related to environmental exposures and various children’s health effects, e.g. asthma, birth defects, cancers, developmental disorders and obesity.

Similar in scope to EPA’s America’s Children and the Environment,with a few twists, including estimates of economic impacts and a recommendation for a statewide PEHSU-type network funded by NY State Department of Health.

Thanks to Maryann Suero, US EPA, for posting.

Ruth Patrick, a Pioneer in Science and Pollution Control Efforts, Is Dead at 105

Ruth Patrick, a pioneer in studying the health of freshwater streams and rivers who laid the scientific groundwork for modern pollution control efforts, died on Monday in Lafayette Hill, Pa. She was 105...

Dr. Patrick, an adviser to presidents and the recipient of distinguished science awards, was one of the country’s leading experts in the study of freshwater ecosystems, or limnology. She achieved that renown after entering science in the 1930s, when few women were able to do so, and working for the academy for eight years without pay.

“She was worried about and addressing water pollution before the rest of us even thought of focusing on it,” James Gustave Speth, a former dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, said in an e-mail message.

Dr. Patrick built her career around research on thousands of species of single-cell algae called diatoms, which float at the bottom of the food chain. She showed that measuring the kinds and numbers of diatoms revealed the type and extent of pollution in a body of water. Her method of measurement has been used around the world to help determine water quality...

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Cancer scientists get pushy about prevention

As evidence linking pollutants and cancer becomes increasingly clear, scientists around the world are calling for something to be done — and they're getting downright pushy about it. Well maybe not pushy, exactly. But definitely pointed and impatient as they urge policymakers to take steps now to protect us from chemicals that cause cancer. Read more.

...           According to some, like cancer prevention advocate Dr. Samuel Epstein, mainstream cancer groups such as the American Cancer Society (ACS) have a long history of promoting that status quo, fastidiously keeping the focus of research and policy discussions away from the dangers of cancer-causing chemicals. Chair of the national Cancer Prevention Coalition and past president of the American Public Health Association, Epstein recently authored a scathing critique of ACS's record on cancer prevention entitled More Interested in Accumulating Wealth than Saving Lives.