E/CN.4/1995/78/Add.1 page 26 In communities with one commercial hazardous waste facility, the average minority percentage of the population was twice the average minority percentage of the population in communities without such facilities (24 per cent vs. 12 per cent). Although socio-economic status appeared to play an important role in the location of commercial hazardous waste facilities, race still proved to be more significant. This remained true after the study controlled for urbanization and regional differences. Incomes and home values were substantially lower when communities with commercial facilities were compared to communities in the surrounding counties without facilities. Three out of the five largest commercial hazardous waste landfills in the United States were located in predominately Black or Hispanic communities. These three landfills accounted for 40 per cent of the total estimated commercial landfill capacity in the nation. Three out of every five Black and Hispanic Americans lived in communities with controlled toxic waste sites. More than 15 million Blacks lived in communities with one or more controlled toxic waste sites. More than 8 million Hispanics lived in communities with one or more uncontrolled toxic waste sites. Blacks were heavily over-represented in the populations of metropolitan areas with the largest number of uncontrolled toxic waste sites." 61/ 90. Robert Bullard, a toxic waste specialist at Clark University, Atlanta, reveals a number of similar facts in his communication to the Special Rapporteur. 62/ He describes the harmful consequences of toxic waste sites for the health of persons of African American, Hispanic, Asian and Indian origin. Cases of malformation have been discovered among children born in these areas. 63/ Cases of cancer have also been found in some locations. 91. The highest United States authorities have acknowledged the seriousness of the situation and adopted measures to deal with it. Thus, in July and December 1993 at meetings in Indianapolis and Washington of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and of the African American Church, two influential African American organizations, Mr. Al Gore, the Vice-President of the United States, recognized that discrimination in the environmental sphere was a national problem and announced that the administration would turn its attention to it. In 1993, Congress adopted legislation, the Environmental Justice Act and the Environmental Health Equity Information Act, intended to prevent the location of toxic waste sites in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities. On 11 February 1994, President Clinton signed an order on justice in the environmental sphere.