Will the Environmental Justice Society be impartial?
OR
What do Erin Brokovich and Shine Lawyers need to know about EnTox?
Australians will welcome Erin Brokovich’s backing for the newly formed Environmental Justice Society in Queensland last Friday: HERE
Communities across Australia will be interested to know who is also backing this new public health crusader EJS.
Heading the EJS Advisory Committee as Executive Secretary is Rebecca Jancauskas, Manager Environmental Claims Division of Shine Lawyers.
Rebecca Jancauskas will be taking all public enquiries for the EJS.
The EJS Advisory Committee will also have representatives from EnTox (National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology), EDO Queensland, WWF and Doctors for the Environment.
The EJS Secretariat is staffed by two paralegals and a law clerk from Shine.
The inclusion of EnTox on the EJS Advisory Committee will be cause for serious discussion within groups and between people working with communities affected by public and environmental health issues across Australia.
On the EJS Committee is internationally recognised and highly respected Prof Matti Lang: HERE:
Director, EnTox – National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology
‘As Director of Entox, Matti Lang’s role is to lead and develop a research organisation which has a central role in the field of environmental toxicology and human health risk assessment. Professor Lang has the following special assignments: Member of University of Queensland’s Academic Board; Special Advisor to the National Poisons and Drugs Schedule Committee, Canberra; Member of Expert Review Committee on non-communicable disease cluster assessment for Queensland Health; Reviewer of Prof. Candidature at RMIT, Melbourne; and Special Advisor to Queensland Health on issues related to environmental toxicology and human health.’
This author has no question about the integrity of Prof Matti Lang but the University of Queensland Health Sciences Annual Report
2007 from the National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology EnTox’ raises some interesting questions for communities in Australia:
Research
EnTox’s publication record remains strong and the Centre has continued to seek and to be awarded grants by the research councils with particular strength in ARC Linkage Grants. These trends are evident in the range of support we have sought and gained and the alliances we have developed associated with water quality. These include the Queensland Government-funded ‘Smart Water’ project with Griffith University, the ‘Urban Water Alliance’ with CSIRO and in the consultancy gained for the setting of standards for recycled water awarded by the National Environmental Protection Council. Consultancies have been gained throughout the year, some having a high level of media exposure. These include advice to the Tasmanian Government on the pulp mill in Bell Bay, advice to the Western Australian Government on lead and nickel exposure in Esperance and studies on pesticide releases for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
Communities can only question the future impartiality of Entox’s role with the EJS with the knowledge that Entox has provided advice to several Governments on issues relating to controversies over the science in public health risk assessments on highly contentious developments such as the Bell Bay Pulp Mill, the Esperance lead contamination case and others.
For those NGO’s working at the coal face with people affected by toxic contaminants, the ‘hired guns’ routinely used by Government for health risk assessments are far from being viewed as impartial.
The Esperance and Bell Bay Pulp Mill issues are but a few in Australia which have not been resolved and are still causing serious community distress and possibly harm.
At the launch of EJS Erin Brokovich said: “This country is at the beginning of a period of huge growth that will continue for decades to come and it’s all driven by the resources in the ground,”.
With sights on the potential for future litigation in Australia the EJS and Shine Lawyers need to be aware of the views of their potential pool of clients towards the critical issues about independent science and impartiality of representation on the EJS Committee.
If EJS want to work with communities or local groups then the first thing they need to do is gain their trust.
Erin Brokovich needs to know about the communities views on these issues concerning an organisation that she is now Patron of.
