Main takeaways:
- Sea level rise is raising risks of harmful chemical exposures in shoreline communities like Richmond, CA
- These risks are falling disproportionately on communities already hard hit by contamination and pollution
- One of those risks is increase in exposure to VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which enter buildings and can increase cancer risk
The Richmond shoreline, located along the San Francisco Bay, has been plagued by industrial pollution for more than a century. Despite being home to approximately 117,000 residents, the shoreline area is contaminated with pesticides, VOCs, and heavy metals because of unregulated waste disposal from chemical manufacturing industries. Rising sea levels in San Francisco Bay can mobilize contaminants from these sites, increasing the risk of health harms for community residents. So, what can be done?
As a UC San Francisco medical student and scholar with the EaRTH Center in their Environmental Scholar’s Program, I had a chance to work with fellows from EaRTH’s Reach the Decisionmakers program (Reach) and the Richmond Shoreline Alliance, a community-led advocacy group located in Richmond, to raise awareness and better understand the toxic contamination and associated health risks that Richmond communities face. Here’s what I learned:
The history of the contaminated Zeneca site
From the late 1800s through the 1990s, Stauffer Chemical and later Zeneca Inc. produced sulfuric acid and pesticides on Richmond’s southeast shoreline. In 1997, Zeneca shut down the 86-acre site and the California State Water Resources Control Board ordered the company to clean it up. The remediation plan was finalized in 2002 and called for digging up and treating contaminated soil, then containing contaminated soil with a quarter-inch thick concrete cap. However, remediation has not been completed. Nor have remediation efforts accounted for the risk of rising groundwater or nearby seismic activity, which can crack concrete caps, potentially releasing the hazardous chemicals beneath.
Sea level rise and the spread of toxic chemicals
There are over 5,000 contaminated sites along the San Francisco Bay shoreline, including the Zeneca site, which contains pollutants such as “heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), PCBs, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like benzene and trichloroethylene (TCE), sulfuric acid, carbon disulfide, and radioactive materials.” Sea level rise can bring more salt water inland, which makes underground infrastructure more vulnerable to damage (Habel et al, 2024). Rising groundwater can also seep into contaminated soil and spread hazardous chemicals far beyond the original contaminated site. It also increases the risk of VOC migration into nearby buildings via cracked plumbing seals, unmaintained pipes, or cracks in foundations, posing significant health risks.
Partnership and raising awareness around the health consequences of Zeneca toxic chemicals
Richmond Shoreline Alliance (RSA) is an advocacy group born from local efforts by community members to voice their concerns about contaminated sites near their homes, and it advocates for proper clean up of toxic sites in Richmond. RSA has been raising awareness about toxic contamination for six years, hosting monthly community meetings, conducting toxic tours, and sharing the history and latest information regarding the Zeneca Superfund-qualified site.
Working with members of RSA’s No Homes on Toxic Dumps team, we investigated the health effects of VOCs at the contaminated site with hazard information from the US Environmental Protection Agency, California Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. As part of this work, I evaluated metrics such as cancer and non-cancer health effects for 11 VOCs found at the Zeneca site. From there, we found seven of the 11 VOCs were carcinogenic, 10 linked to adverse neurocognitive effects, nine impacted reproductive health, and seven affected the gastrointestinal system. VOCs are more likely to infiltrate indoor spaces in older, structurally compromised buildings causing individuals living in these areas heightened susceptibility to exposure.
The future
Reach the Decisionmakers fellows worked as a team to raise awareness and develop policy solutions to address these disparities. However, there is still much to be done to address the injustices experienced by Richmond residents. While I am inspired by the self-advocacy and collective efforts of Richmond residents to drive change, I recognize that healthcare providers—both present and future—must support efforts to build healthier communities. We can start by asking ourselves how we can engage in clinician-driven environmental health justice advocacy and support policy change for the most pressing health hazards affecting our communities.
Learn more
Join us next Tuesday, August 12th at 12pm PT for an online presentation by members of our Reach the Decisionmakers team, Underground Rising.
No need to register, simply join the presentation at: https://ucsf.zoom.us/j/99627388848?pwd=VLTfhTravnPfGjLpI7lCWl8ifa4MPB.1
About the author
Debbie Adam, M.Phil is a third-year medical student at UCSF. She grew up in Englewood, New Jersey and graduated from The University of Maryland, College Park with a double degree in Biological Sciences and Spanish. Her research interests center community outreach, advocacy and global health. Debbie continually seeks to expand her understanding of how environmental exposures disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities. As a scholar in the EaRTH Center’s Environmental Scholars Program, Debbie worked with the Reach the Decisionmakers team Underground Rising and the Richmond Shoreline Alliance to develop consolidated health metrics and information on AstraZeneca chemicals for white papers and policy recommendations to CalEPA.
Thank you to Richmond Shoreline Alliance for the use of their Greetings from Richmond postcard-style graphic highlighting environmental concerns at the Zeneca site.
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