ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE - THE ROLE OF EPIDEMIOLOGY IN PROTECTING UNEMPOWERED COMMUNITIES FROM ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS

The environmental justice movement in the U.S. is the product of the c ivil rights movement which gained headway in the 1960s and the environ mental movement of the 1970s, which fought against environmental destr uction, pollution, depletion of resources, and the extinction of speci es. Parallel movements internationally have brought attention to the n eed to protect unempowered communities worldwide from both environment al hazards and degradation. Environmental epidemiologists are shown to have an important role to play in the global struggle for environment al justice.