As part of Sen. Cory Booker鈥檚 presidential primary campaign, the New Jersey Democrat talks about 鈥渆nvironmental justice鈥 鈥 which seems to mean addressing the environmental factors that disproportionately affect people who are low-income and from minority backgrounds.
One issue he鈥檚 highlighting: the impact of , hazardous waste sites that are prevalent in Booker鈥檚 home state, and usually located in the as low-income residents, often African American or Hispanic.
In with MSNBC, Booker cast that issue not only as a challenge for social justice and equality but also as a public health problem.
鈥淲e now have longitudinal data that shows that children born around Superfund sites have dramatically higher rates of birth defects, dramatically higher rates of autism,鈥 he said.
This isn鈥檛 the first time has this , and it likely won鈥檛 be the last. So, we decided to dig in and see how it stands up to scrutiny.
First, The Data
Booker鈥檚 press team sent us two Superfund studies: a on the association between toxic landfills and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and probing that association regarding congenital anomalies (the 鈥渂irth defects鈥 Booker mentioned).
In the autism paper, researchers mapped the location of New Jersey Superfund sites and almost 500 children diagnosed with ASD from 1998 to 2006, finding that cases appeared in higher frequency closer to the sites. Those researchers also checked for a relationship between higher numbers of Superfund sites in a state and frequency of ASDs.
That analysis 鈥渞eveal[ed] considerable overlap鈥 between high Superfund rates and autism diagnoses 鈥 though the authors were quick to caution that a correlation didn鈥檛 mean one caused the other.
The 2014 paper looked at births from 1989 to 2003, near Superfund sites in Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas 鈥 all of which were cleaned up at some point in that time frame. Before a site was cleaned up, infants were, on average, 20% to 25% more likely to have a congenital birth defect.
鈥淭his does suggest that the Superfund sites caused birth defects,鈥 argued Janet Currie, a study author and professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, in an email to KHN.
Both of these are longitudinal studies, meaning the research was collected over time to track patterns and changes.
Booker鈥檚 Phrasing Is Quite Deliberate 鈥 And That Matters For His Case
We spoke to environmental health researchers unaffiliated with the studies. They said it would be very difficult to prove that being born near a Superfund site causes kids to be born with birth defects, or causes autism. It helps that in his statements Booker doesn鈥檛 try to make that case. One caveat, though, is that a casual listener could draw that conclusion.
The studies he鈥檚 working with are 鈥渇airly exploratory,鈥 said David Savitz, a professor of epidemiology at Brown University鈥檚 School of Public Health. While they support the idea of a link between autism and Superfund sites, or birth defects and such sites, they don鈥檛 go so far as to support a case for causality. Other factors could contribute, too.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not hard to imagine all the ways the communities proximal to waste sites may be different 鈥 a lot of ways other than just having the waste site,鈥 Savitz said.
But Booker鈥檚 comments are rooted in legitimate data sources. Both those studies are peer-reviewed and suggest there could be some kind of relationship. So, the center of his claim 鈥 there is data that shows children near Superfund sites having higher rates of congenital anomalies and autism 鈥 does, in fact, check out.
Even so, environmental health experts said, much more work is needed to understand the nature of that claim. Risk factors for autism are still not well identified. And congenital abnormalities can refer to a range of different problems 鈥 so research that lumps them together may gloss over important distinctions, especially when it comes to what might cause a specific birth defect.
The Bigger Picture
Booker is getting at a larger truth: Many chemicals found at Superfund sites are related to health problems, the experts said. And, those same experts added, his environmental justice framing is one that makes sense, too, given the demographics of those most often affected.
From a policy standpoint, Savitz argued, Booker鈥檚 bigger point 鈥 that cleaning up Superfunds would improve health outcomes, in particular for marginalized people 鈥 is clearly true.
The only real issue, some suggested, is his use of the word 鈥渄ramatically.鈥 The data suggests a potential correlation, but whether it鈥檚 鈥渄ramatic鈥 is far from clear.
鈥淐ertainly there is evidence to back up his claim,鈥 said Amanda Bakian, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Utah, who studies environmental contributors to autism risk. 鈥淭here鈥檚 been work finding an association, but the relationship is modest. 鈥 We do need more research in this area.鈥
Our Rating
Booker is correct in saying data shows that children born near Superfund sites have higher rates of birth defects and autism. In this statement, he doesn鈥檛 specifically say there is a causal relationship 鈥 which is important, because the data does not necessarily say Superfund proximity causes those issues, and more research would be needed to support that claim.
The use of the word 鈥渄ramatically鈥 causes a bit of trouble, however. The datasets show statistically significant correlations. But that isn鈥檛 the same thing as a 鈥渄ramatically higher rate.鈥
The statement is true, but could use more context. We rate it Mostly True.
