Lawsuit funds pediatric clinic for polluted Alabama community
There will be a grand-opening celebration next month for a new pediatric clinic in the impoverished and predominantly African-American community of West Anniston, Ala. The clinic was financed by the $700 million legal settlement over manufacturer Monsanto's reckless contamination of the local environment with polychlorinated biphenyls, highly toxic and now-banned chemicals once used as industrial coolants.
The Pediatric Care Center of Northeast Alabama will be headed by Dr. Angela Martin, a longtime Anniston pediatrician and Emory University graduate charged with providing the care guaranteed to children under the settlement. Martin is the first African-American woman to work in private practice in Anniston.
A study released earlier this year found that adults in Anniston have four times the amount of PCBs in their body as the typical U.S. resident. While Anniston's children have PCB levels similar to other U.S. children, those children whose parents were exposed to PCBs have significantly lower IQ scores than those were weren't. They also show decreased problem-solving ability.
Besides addressing contamination-related health concerns in individual patients, the new clinic will also serve as a center of research on the link between PCBs and neurological problems. Through her own Martin Foundation, the doctor has received numerous grants for her work in the community from government and private organizations as well as corporate sponsors.
Martin hopes the grand-opening event will inspire young people to become doctors. She also wants to send a message to the white-dominated environmental movement.
"Black people are talking about the environment, too," Martin says, "but we're talking about it from a health point of view."
The grand opening is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 9 at the new clinic, located at 321 Leighton Ave.
The Pediatric Care Center of Northeast Alabama will be headed by Dr. Angela Martin, a longtime Anniston pediatrician and Emory University graduate charged with providing the care guaranteed to children under the settlement. Martin is the first African-American woman to work in private practice in Anniston.
A study released earlier this year found that adults in Anniston have four times the amount of PCBs in their body as the typical U.S. resident. While Anniston's children have PCB levels similar to other U.S. children, those children whose parents were exposed to PCBs have significantly lower IQ scores than those were weren't. They also show decreased problem-solving ability.
Besides addressing contamination-related health concerns in individual patients, the new clinic will also serve as a center of research on the link between PCBs and neurological problems. Through her own Martin Foundation, the doctor has received numerous grants for her work in the community from government and private organizations as well as corporate sponsors.
Martin hopes the grand-opening event will inspire young people to become doctors. She also wants to send a message to the white-dominated environmental movement.
"Black people are talking about the environment, too," Martin says, "but we're talking about it from a health point of view."
The grand opening is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 9 at the new clinic, located at 321 Leighton Ave.
Labels: Alabama, Anniston, environment, environmental health, environmental justice, Monsanto, PCBs
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