Drake Chemical Workers' Health Registry: Coping with community tension over toxic exposures

Background: Programs to communicate health risk information and to protect the health of groups exposed to toxic substances need to tailor interventions to the political, economic, and cultural situation of the at-risk group. In particular, such programs must often cope with exceptional community tension and conflict over these exposures. Methods: This article uses interviews and written materials to document and describe the state of affairs that led up to community tension over an occupational exposure to a bladder carcinogen. The article describes the planning and design of a program to provide medical surveillance to workers, which also alleviated community concern. Results: The Drake Chemical Workers' Health Registry coped successfully with community conflict and obtained a high participation rate. Conclusions: General recommendations include the following: avoid identification with extraneous agendas; know the community and maintain communication; and match the intervention to the evolution of the community conflict.