Gretchen Latowsky
Director of the Community Technical Assistance Program
JSI Research and Training Institute
Boston, MA
USA
Woburn is a small, working class, highly industrialized community north of Boston, MA. For over 200 years unsafe waste disposal practices contaminated the community's air, water and soil and caused a complex of health problems. Residents, many of them mothers of children suffering from health problems, complained about conditions in the city. In 1979 their efforts led the US Environmental Protection Agency to identify a 450 acre property as one of the largest hazardous waste sites in the country. Two drinking water wells, which supplied water for the community, were closed because of unsafe levels of volatile organic contamination. Mothers of several children with leukemia identified a cluster ofleukemia, birth defects and other health problems which have been associated with the use of contaminated water from the wells. Twenty eight cases of leukemia were identified and sixteen children died.
The women of Woburn organized a grassroots environmental organization, For A Cleaner Environment, and proceeded to bring the Woburn hazardous waste and public health problems to the attention of the public, government, and industry. They enlisted the help of television and newspaper media who made Woburn a national example of what can go wrong with improper waste disposal, unsafe industrial practices, and inadequate government regulation. The Woburn story has been the subject of two books, a movie, several television programs and numerous reports in magazines and newspapers. The women mobilized local, state, and federal government officials, sometimes under duress, which led to changes in environmental laws and establishment of registries to track the incidence of cancer. They worked with scientists and researchers to investigate hazardous waste problems and develop new technologies for cleanup. And, the Woburn case study has been the subject of high school, college and university courses in public health, engineering, and public policy.
Woburn has become a nationally recognized example of the need for the public to be involved in making decisions to protect the environment. The women of Woburn have served as an example for their courage, dedication, and untiring efforts to have their voices heard. Their efforts mirror the grassroots environmental movement in the US, a movement largely run by women. This movement had its beginnings in the 1950s when Rachel Carson published "Silent Spring", a book warning of the environmental and health problems associated with widespread use of organochlorinepesticides, such as DDT. In her book she challenged the public to join in the effort to develop new regulations for environmentalprotection. The women of Woburn, uniquely suited to their role as defenders of the integrity of home and community, have joined the environmental effort as equal parties in the decision making process. They have shared their experiences with groups across the country and helped women, like themselves, organize to deal with their own community environmental and health problems.
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