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Living with Landfills

Nobody wants to live near a landfill. But sometimes, people don’t have any choice. A study by the University of North Carolina found that minority populations living in low-income neighborhoods were far more likely to end up living near dumps than their white counterparts.

The study found solid waste facilities were more than twice as likely to be built in communities with more than 10 percent minority populations and 40 percent more likely to be built in communities with lower housing values.

There are serious health consequences associated with living near landfills, such as the potential for water and air pollution from toxicants seeping out of the buried waste.

The state has placed a moratorium on new landfills while it studies the issue.

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To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org