Environmental Risk and Race
By 
I doubt any readers of LGM will be that shocked that people of color are exposed to toxic environments at rates far higher than whites. But the differential, at least in California, really is awful:
“What’s unique about this study is that we are looking at multiple hazards at once and including factors that make populations more vulnerable to the effects of pollution, such as age and disease status,” lead study lead author Lara Cushing, a Ph.D. student at Berkeley, said in a press release. “Still, it is surprising to see such a consistent and stark disparity by race when it comes to the burden of environmental health hazards. It was a bigger factor than income.”
Risk exposure for Hispanics was 6.2 times higher than whites, and 5.8 times higher for African Americans. Asians and Native American face double the environmental health hazard risks compared to whites.
“The findings indicate that people of color — especially African American and Latino Californians — are much more likely than white Californians to be exposed to both environmental and social stressors that impact health,” said Cushing. “People can’t use this environmental justice screening tool to calculate the probability that they will develop cancer or asthma, but it can and should be used by state regulators and others to focus their efforts to benefit disproportionately impacted communities.”
There’s little reason to believe that results around the country would be significantly different. Would like to see more studies along this line to know for sure.