https://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/marapr2007p37.shtml
https://doh.wa.gov/data-statistical-reports/diseases-and-chronic-conditions/asthma-data
Industrial toxins are very bad for our communities, but even worse for our children and the old. Both of which have immune systems that are either not fully developed or are compromised from old age. South Park and Georgetown have long been ‘sacrifice zones.’ It wasn’t always this way. For background info before the 1850’s, the area was under the care of Native American Tribes. Land going the way it did, white settlers came and invaded. People must be figuring that this is when we came to be an industrial area, not for a long time yet. After the 1850’s it became a large farming community. It was only in the early 20th Century that the industrialization started and really took off during WW2.
During WW2, a farmer sold a bunch of his land to Boeing for a dollar. The Duwamish River started becoming much polluted with the war industry pouring all of their metals into the river, as would other organizations soon after, such as Jorgensen Forge and Seattle Iron and Metals. Of course, no one really thinks about the poor being affected by companies making parts for war. Someone’s gotta pay the price. We’ve been paying the price as a community for the better part of the last century. Our river is so bad that it is labeled a ‘Superfund site.’ This is due to the extreme levels of pollutants and chemicals in the water, and why we can really no longer even eat fish or consider swimming.
Living in this kind of area is bad for our young and old alike, because of the sheer amount of chemicals and pollutants in our air as well as the waterway. In a recent meeting with organizations throughout the city, they said we should just drive less. Cool, what about the toxic industrials and the fumes in the air from the metal companies as well as with Boeing, Ram Mounts/NPI, and Seattle Iron and Minerals, to name only a few. If they really wanted to help cut down on pollution and make it healthier for our kids, why not lobby for better public transportation and fine industrial companies amounts that actually matter?
The chemicals get in our bodies and affect our breathing. We constantly have to smell the chemicals in the area and many days I have headaches from the smells. As I will cover in another post, we are also having trouble having kids, because those same fumes (BPA’s and CPAH’s, as well as many others) affect our kids and our ability to have kids. Us and our families are treated as second, or in my mind, 3rd-rate citizens. This is because the local government, nor federal organizations give a fuck about us.
America's Failing System 
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