By Bill Orton
Maritime trades workers toiling amidst the belches of truck exhaust and ship emissions face a dramatically heightened risk of contracting leukemia and other forms of cancer, according to experts who spoke to a gathering of union officials in Long Beach Sept. 23.
"The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are the single largest source of harmful pollution in the South Coast Air Quality District," said Richard Takiushi-Drury, an attorney and a former adviser to the Clinton Administration’s EPA panel on environmental justice.
Statistics show that 70 percent of all cancer risk in Harbor area is due to diesel particulate matter, a situation now made worse by a ruling from a NAFTA panel that allows older, dirtier Mexican trucks into the U.S.
"Exposure in the Harbor is 10 times or more that of the general population," Takiushi-Drury said.
"Occupational cancers are an epidemic, as four out of 10 workers will contract cancer," said Raphael Metzger, a toxic tort litigation lawyer whose clients have included leukemia and cancer patients whose illnesses were allegedly contracted from workplace exposure to products like benzene.
"I know the ILWU has seen large clusters of lung cancer and ultimately, we’re all front-line workers," Maritime Trades president Larry Barragan said.
Talk of toxic tort litigation and coalitions with environmentalists prompted intense debate, with Barragan calling the entire topic "highly controversial." But all agreed that workers are the ones on the front line who suffer the greatest effects of workplace pollution.
"Workers are really the canaries of occupational cancers," Metzger said. "A lot of your members are going to develop cancer that will be caused by exposure to chemicals in the workplace, like benzene. The rate of incidents is much less in the general population."
Metzger told union leaders that benzene is so unsafe that studies have shown the current federal OSHA standard of one part per million is enough exposure to cause cancer. Scientific evidence indicates a standard of one-tenth part per million is the maximum level a person could safely be exposed to. By settling on a standard that industry claims is the lowest it can afford to meet, the rule for benzene guarantees workplace cancer.
But employers have always warned that health and safety regulations will be the financial ruin of their industries, and are only proven wrong when political power forces them to comply. Another benefit of good anti-pollution measures, Takiushi-Drury noted, is that the upgrades in infrastructure required creates jobs.
Metzger pointed out other ways the legal deck is stacked for business.
"The whole workers comp system was set up to protect employers," said Metzger, who pointed out that the highest monetary compensation for a worker who dies on the job is capped at $150,000.
With daily ship traffic representing the equivalent of one million car trips, and older Mexican trucks spewing benzene-laden exhaust into the air, workers need to reach out to the community and environmentalists to form what Takiushi-Drury referred to as a "green-blue-brown coalition."
"Where we live and work is the most important environment to focus on," said Takiushi-Drury.
