According to the 1997 Strategic Plan, the mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment-air, water, and land-upon which all life depends. Although the EPA has made significant progress in achieving healthier, sustainable environments, the Strategic Plan states that environmental programs during the past two decades may not always have benefited all communities or all populations equally. Many minority, low-income, and Native American communities have raised concerns that they suffer a disproportionate burden of health due to the sitting of multiple pollution sources in their communities. Environmental programs do not adequately address these disproportionate exposures to pesticides, lead or other toxic chemicals at home and on the job.