A Blast from the Past

Several years passed. Cheryl had been treating her own patients for a while now. Given her continuing interest in environmental health, she was constantly on the lookout for information she could share with her patients. As part of her searching, she’d recently found a report that shook her to her core. A team of researchers had confirmed that the water in her hometown had been contaminated with cancer-causing pesticides from nearby agricultural farms. Moreover, the suspiciously high rates of breast cancer were officially linked to the water contamination. Her grandmother was by all accounts among the first victims. And of course, the Black women in her town were experiencing disproportionately high rates of breast cancer. This alarming news made her redouble her efforts to share the risks of environmental contaminations with all of her patients. Despite her best attempts, though, the vast majority of them didn’t appear overly concerned. No matter how much she emphasized the risks, she couldn’t seem to convince them of the importance of monitoring environmental exposures around their homes and in their communities.

Asian American and Pacific Histories · Cuban History and Society · Geology · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History