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Spatial variability in toxicity indicators used to rank chemical risks.
Susan L Cutter1, Michael S Scott, Arleen A Hill
1Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. scutter@sc.edu
American Journal of Public Health
|February 28, 2002
Summary
Environmental justice research requires careful selection of toxicity measures. Different toxicity indices, when applied to Toxic Release Inventory emissions, show significant spatial variation and can lead to inaccurate equity analyses.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Public Health
- Toxicology
Background:
- The Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) provides data on chemical releases from industrial facilities.
- Assessing environmental health risks requires accurate toxicity measures.
- Understanding spatial and statistical variations in these measures is crucial for environmental justice studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the spatial and statistical variations among six different toxicity measures for Toxic Release Inventory emissions.
- To evaluate the practical correlations between these toxicity indices at the facility level.
Main Methods:
- Employed six distinct toxicity indices to analyze Toxic Release Inventory data.
- Calculated statistical and spatial correlations between the indices for individual facilities in South Carolina.
Main Results:
- While theoretically distinct, the six toxicity indices demonstrated practical commonality.
- Significant spatial variations were observed in the toxicity indices when analyzed at the individual facility level.
Conclusions:
- The selection of a toxicity measure significantly impacts the statistical and spatial outcomes of environmental equity analyses.
- Researchers in environmental justice must be aware of these differences to avoid drawing erroneous conclusions.