To the Editor:

Re “When Pollution Is a Way of Life” (Sunday Review, June 23):

Sharon Lerner ’s essay about living next to deadly pollution tells a story I’ve seen many times in my 20 years as a community organizer in Pittsburgh. For people living just outside the fences of our poorly regulated industrial giants, life and death seem to fall through the cracks of laws that most Americans assume protect us from harm.

My wake-up call came during a neighborhood meeting near a complex of industrial plants. A resident asked me, “Is it normal for three kids in my child’s elementary school to have leukemia?” It is incredibly difficult for residents to prove the source of their illnesses, a burden on top of terrible diseases. But no one should live with thinking that his or her child’s cancer is normal.

History repeats itself here. After a recent pl ant fire, United States Steel just subjected residents living near its Clairton Coke Works to more than 100 days without major pollution control equipment operating. It’s time to join our neighbors in creating long-overdue justice.

Myron Arnowitt

Pittsburgh

The writer is Pennsylvania director for Clean Water Action.