HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — A VCU professor and student researcher are working to make information about environmental health risks in Eastern Henrico County more accessible to the public, as residents raise concerns about the cumulative impact of pollution in the area.
Virginia Commonwealth University professor Dr. Beth Kreydatus said the relationship between public health and environmental health is one that demands serious attention.
"When you have a lot of different pollution sources all in one location, the combination of all of those pollution sources starts to overburden the community," Kreydatus said.
Kreydatus said residents of Henrico's East End have a right to know about the health risks in their area, particularly because the conditions causing pollutants to enter the air and water are not ones residents can easily remove themselves from.
"I do think that they have a right to know about the health risks in the area," Kreydatus said.
To help address that, Kreydatus recruited rising VCU junior Jayda Johnson-Scales to research the cumulative impacts of pollutants on the East End. Their work produced a study titled "Environmental Justice in Eastern Henrico," which includes a digital map showcasing landfills, the airport, and medical facilities that are impacting the environment in the area.
"These are the things that we walk past everyday, we drive past everyday. We see these things, we could live two miles from it, and they overall have a tremendous impact on our health, our livelihood, and our quality of life," Johnson-Scales said.
One location highlighted in the study is Sterilization Services of Virginia, a medical sterilization facility on the East End. According to a letter from the Department of Environmental Quality, the facility was responsible for emitting over 500 pounds of Ethylene Oxide into the air, which has been linked to cancer risks.
Concerns over that chemical leak and other pollutants in the county prompted Faith Harris, director of the nonprofit Virginia Interfaith Power and Light and an East End resident, to hold a community meeting Tuesday to address residents' questions.
"We're very concerned about not just that one source of emissions, but we also have an airport, there's a landfill, there's also a gas plant, and so people need to know what they're exposed to so that we can protect their health," Harris said.
Kreydatus said the effort behind the research reflects a genuine commitment to the community.
"They really care about making Henrico a safer place for residents and they put a lot of time and effort into the research," Kreydatus said.
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