oil and communit y health 505
The health study led to community action
The work of the health promoters showed people that many of their health
problems were caused by oil pollution. Toxic chemicals from oil were found
in the water and soil, and in people’s blood, urine, and feces. Knowing this
helped them begin to work toward a solution. They knew that as long as the
contamination continued, it would be difficult to have safe water, healthy
food, or clean air.
A group formed, calling itself the
Committee of Affected People, to
petition the government for help.
And the organization of health
promoters continued supporting
people’s health and showing how
their health problems were caused
by oil.
Another organization, the
Front for the Defense of the
Amazon, began a lawsuit to sue
the oil company for the damage
it had caused. (To learn about
this lawsuit, see page 522.)
Health promoters and other people in the
community realized their study was only the
beginning of their struggle for health and justice.
Huge areas of the rain forest had
been destroyed, and environmental laws about how damage had to be repaired
were ignored. The foreign-owned oil company just took its profits and left.
The community study and lawsuit inspired other organizations to get
involved in the struggle to save the rainforest and its people. Universities and
medical schools in Ecuador, England, and the United States did more studies
to support the lawsuit against the oil company, and to show that oil caused
terrible health problems. These studies also helped the authors of this book
learn about the health effects of oil.
But the key work was done by the health promoters. By teaching
themselves how to study the health effects of oil, they worked locally on
an issue of global importance. By showing how their neighbors’ health was
being devastated by the destruction of the rain forest by multinational oil
corporations, they brought local issues to the international arena. They were
an inspiration to us as we wrote this book.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012