1) The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found that among poor families, an estimated 68% of African-American children had lead poisoning, as compared with 36% of European-American children.

2) According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 25: "Everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living including food, clothing, housing, and medical care."

3) According to the book Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots: "Kettleman City, a predominantly Latino community in California's Central Valley, is home to a hazardous waste landfill operated by the world's largest waste-disposal company."

4) According to the Sun Reporter: Richmond, California, has 350 industrial facilities spewing 210 hazardous chemicals into the community. 36% of the residents are black.

5) In 1991, global activists broadened the environmental justice movement to include public health, worker safety, transportation, resource allocation, and community empowerment. On October 27, 1991, Summit delegates adopted 17 Principles of Environmental Justice.

6) Principle 7 states: "Environmental justice demands the right for participation as equal partners at every level of decision-making including needs assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement and evaluation."

7) According to the Contemporary Women's Issues Database: "In 1994, plutonium levels almost 100 times higher than expected were found in a city park near the Livermore lab. The park is located next to an elementary school."

8) Principle 4 states: "Environmental justice calls for protection from extraction, production, and disposal of toxic wastes that threaten the fundamental right to clean air, land, water, and food."

9) According to the San Francisco Chronicle: "In 1990, Peptide Nucleic Acid levels were as high as 170 parts per million in the soil at Midway Village, Daly City, and have been suspected of causing memory loss, cancer, and genetic defects."

10) According to Literacy for Environmental Justice: "In Bayview Hunters Point, childhood asthma rates are four times higher than California's average. One third of the residential populations are children."

11) Principle 2 states: "Environmental justice demands that public policy be based on mutual respect and justice for all peoples, free from any form of discrimination or bias."

12) According to the San Francisco Chronicle: "The Independence was moored at the [Bayview Hunters Point] shipyard and used as a nuclear waste storage dump. In 1951, the Navy sunk it about 30 miles off Half Moon Bay."

"Environmental Justice is the right for everyone to live, work, and play in a clean and safe environment."