Exposed: Asking the Wrong Question in Environmental Regulation
Presentation Abstract
Environmental standards set a de facto ceiling on the safe ingestion of fish and water, and on the healthful conduct of a host of other human behaviors. Under the Clean Water Act (CWA), water quality standards are set using health- (i.e., risk-) based methods. A risk assessment is premised upon certain assumptions about humans’ exposure to toxic contaminants in their environment. Current exposure assessment methods take a snapshot of people’s consumption of fish and other behaviors, as these are constrained by a degraded present, i.e., when resources are contaminated and depleted. These methods capture contemporary fish consumption at rates that are distorted by “suppression.” As the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council has recognized, “[a] ‘suppression effect’ occurs when a fish consumption rate (FCR) for a given population, group, or tribe reflects a current level of consumption that is artificially diminished from an appropriate baseline level of consumption for that population, group, or tribe.” For tribes in the Pacific Northwest, the forces of suppression have operated for decades and include inundation of tribes’ fishing places; denial of access to harvest sites; depletion and contamination of the fish resource; and the legacy effects of years of prosecution, intimidation, and gear confiscation. As a consequence, contemporary surveys of tribal populations produce FCRs that are artificially low compared to an appropriate, historical- or “heritage-” based baseline – a baseline to which tribes in the United States also have treaty-secured and other legal rights. Current exposure assessment methods effectively undermine tribes’ fishing rights. These methods also undercut the restorative goals of environmental statutes such as the CWA, which were passed when our ecological systems were perhaps at their most ravaged. These methods, moreover, subvert the health-based aims of these statutes. And they subtly assimilate those whose lifeways place them among the most exposed: they effectively present tribal members with the “choice” of conforming their fish intake to current, suppressed levels or consuming fish at more appropriate levels – but along with a stiff dose of toxic contaminants.
Session Title
Session S-03B: Washington Fish Consumption Rate: One Number, Hundreds of Human Health and Environmental Management Decisions, Millions of Consumers
Conference Track
Toxics
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2014 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
30-4-2014 3:30 PM
End Date
30-4-2014 5:00 PM
Location
Room 608-609
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Fish as food--Contamination--Northwest, Pacific; Indians of North America--Food--Northwest, Pacific; Indians of North America--Fishing--Law and legislation--Northwest, Pacific; Fishery policy--United States
Geographic Coverage
Northwest, Pacific; United States; Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Exposed: Asking the Wrong Question in Environmental Regulation
Room 608-609
Environmental standards set a de facto ceiling on the safe ingestion of fish and water, and on the healthful conduct of a host of other human behaviors. Under the Clean Water Act (CWA), water quality standards are set using health- (i.e., risk-) based methods. A risk assessment is premised upon certain assumptions about humans’ exposure to toxic contaminants in their environment. Current exposure assessment methods take a snapshot of people’s consumption of fish and other behaviors, as these are constrained by a degraded present, i.e., when resources are contaminated and depleted. These methods capture contemporary fish consumption at rates that are distorted by “suppression.” As the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council has recognized, “[a] ‘suppression effect’ occurs when a fish consumption rate (FCR) for a given population, group, or tribe reflects a current level of consumption that is artificially diminished from an appropriate baseline level of consumption for that population, group, or tribe.” For tribes in the Pacific Northwest, the forces of suppression have operated for decades and include inundation of tribes’ fishing places; denial of access to harvest sites; depletion and contamination of the fish resource; and the legacy effects of years of prosecution, intimidation, and gear confiscation. As a consequence, contemporary surveys of tribal populations produce FCRs that are artificially low compared to an appropriate, historical- or “heritage-” based baseline – a baseline to which tribes in the United States also have treaty-secured and other legal rights. Current exposure assessment methods effectively undermine tribes’ fishing rights. These methods also undercut the restorative goals of environmental statutes such as the CWA, which were passed when our ecological systems were perhaps at their most ravaged. These methods, moreover, subvert the health-based aims of these statutes. And they subtly assimilate those whose lifeways place them among the most exposed: they effectively present tribal members with the “choice” of conforming their fish intake to current, suppressed levels or consuming fish at more appropriate levels – but along with a stiff dose of toxic contaminants.
