University of Maryland School of Public Health research shows Millsboro, DE community is particularly vulnerable to pollution impacts that proposed Harim poultry processing plant could bring

WHAT: The public release of a Rapid Health Impact Assessment, a report that details the health status of Millsboro residents and the potential risks and impacts that a proposed industrial poultry operation could bring to Millsboro & Sussex County. Public Q&A follows.

WHEN: Saturday, July 25, 2015 | 1:00pm – 5:00pm

WHERE: Indian River Senior Center, 214 Irons Ave., Millsboro, DE 19966

WHO: Sacoby Wilson, Ph.D. | University of Maryland School of Public Health, Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health Leah Baskin Graves, MPH | University of Maryland School of Public Health Maria Payan | Socially Responsible Agricultural Project

From bad to worse. The health status of the Millsboro, DE community is currently lower than county, state and federal levels. Residents live under the health and environmental strain of pollution from multiple sources, including a coal-fired power plant, an existing poultry processing plant, two Superfund sites, a concrete factory and a veterinary pharmaceutical plant. All are within a two-mile radius of a Brownfield site — once home to a seasonal pickle operation and now the proposed location of an industrialized poultry plant that will discharge into the Indian River. With Millsboro residents already facing challenges including lack of access to healthcare, respiratory problems, cancer, higher than average mortality rates and poor birth outcomes, they are particularly vulnerable to the impacts that the proposed industrial animal facility operated by Allen Harim Foods could have on the land, water and environmental health of Millsboro and beyond.

A Rapid Health Impact Assessment was prepared by the University of Maryland School of Public Health’s Sacoby Wilson, PhD, and Leah Baskin Graves, MPH, offering in-depth analysis of the status of Millsboro community health and how it could potentially be affected if the Harim poultry plant is approved for construction and operation.

This event is sponsored by Socially Responsible Agricultural Project, a group working in farming communities across the nation impacted by factory farms.

For more information, please contact:

Kelly E. Blake
University of Maryland School of Public Health
kellyb@umd.edu
301.405.9418

Maria Payan
Socially Responsible Agricultural Project
mariap@sraproject.org
717.826.7286