Wednesday, September 27
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Media Contact:
Paula Maccabee
(651) 646-8890

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ADVOCATES CALL FOR RIGHT-TO-KNOW AND CLEAN-UP OF ARSENIC CONTAMINATION IN SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS

Press Conference on Arsenic Contamination

Wednesday, September 27, 2006 at 12:00 noon

Front yard of Gwyneth and Mark, 3122 15th Av. So. in South Minneapolis

What’s This About?

Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota (EJAM) and Women’s Environmental Institute (WEI), grassroots organizations dedicated to reducing environmental injustice, will hold a press conference calling for:

• City of Minneapolis to pass ordinances introduced on September 22 to give South Minneapolis renters and new homebuyers the right-to-know when government testing finds arsenic contamination of residential yards.
• The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) to clean-up all South Minneapolis yards contaminated with arsenic above normal background levels as a result of a toxic pesticide site in the neighborhood.

Speakers

Representative Keith Ellison, Board Chair of Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota; Minneapolis Council Member Cam Gordon, author of right-to-know ordinances; Representative Karen Clark, Executive Director of Women’s Environmental Institute; and neighbors affected by the contamination.

New Data

Nearly 20 percent of the 3,500 South Minneapolis homes tested by the U.S. EPA have arsenic contamination above background levels. When Minneapolis children play in soil and ingest arsenic, their risk of cancer is increased.

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