‘English-Only’ Pedantry Is a Hazard to Our Health

With three-fourths of California’s voters casting their ballots in favor of Proposition 63, public officials may think that they have a mandate to eliminate languages other than English from public communication. But in at least some areas of government activity, that would be a serious mistake--and one that voters may not have understood. Misguided efforts by citizens or public officials to implement Proposition 63 may seriously affect the health and welfare of all Californians.

Proposition 63 allows anyone in the state to sue government officials and agencies to block any activity that “diminishes or ignores the role of English as the common language.� That sounds innocuous, but unless it is clarified by the Legislature, there’s nothing to stop anyone from trying to keep foreign languages out of police and public-health communications. The possibility is not far-fetched. Many California counties deny low-cost or free health care to indigent undocumented immigrants, even if they must go without necessary medical care.

Successful health promotion and disease prevention programs require the communication of information that can be easily understood and acted upon by all groups. According to the 1980 census, 1.25 million Californians cannot speak or understand English; the number is probably much larger. Multi-language informational and educational public-health materials are essential to reach as many people as possible.

Communicable diseases do not respect language differences. They can spread from those who do not speak English to those who do, and vice versa. Some immigrants, both documented and undocumented, come from areas in which living and working conditions have bred higher rates of tuberculosis than prevail in the United States. Some of them face living and working conditions in this country that exacerbate their vulnerability to this disease. Who can deny the importance of identifying persons with active tuberculosis and treating them? The same can be said for sexually transmitted diseases.

To fulfill their responsibility, public health officials rely heavily on printed information and education in languages that people can easily understand, posted in places where there may be concentrations of infected people.

Children and babies especially need the protections that public health programs provide. Nutrition education and food supplements for poor families may be essential to ensure optimum growth of children. Safety and health education is important to prevent accidental poisoning of children by household products, injuries from falls and burns, electrocution from appliances and adverse reactions from many drugs. All these efforts would be far less effective if they were not communicated in a language clearly understood by parents.

Older children and adults also need protection from environmental and occupational health hazards. We now have warning signs posted in Spanish on high-voltage installations and in fields that are being sprayed with pesticides. People fishing off Southern California piers and beaches need to be warned not to gather shellfish out of season or eat white croakers and other fatty fish that contain high levels of cancer-causing pollutants.

Most native-born Americans would react with outrage if these warnings were denied them. We all should be outraged if masses of California residents--English-speaking or not--are stricken by diseases or accidents that public-health intervention might have prevented.

There is also great potential for harm if people unfamiliar with English are denied assistance through the 911 emergency line, or are discouraged from using county health services because they cannot understand the complex procedures for getting medical care there.

Legislation is needed to head off likely efforts by some over-zealous supporters of Proposition 63, as well as by opportunistic politicians who might hope for political gains by enforcing a popular initiative. State laws are needed to protect access to health and emergency services of those who do not speak English and to ensure that state and local officials can communicate with all groups in languages they can understand. This must be done soon to avert a rush of citizen lawsuits, which would keep health officials tied up in court when they could be working at safeguarding the public’s health.

In addition, adequate funding is needed to meet the tremendous demand for “English as a second language� classes, which are not now sufficiently available to meet the needs of those who want to learn English. But even as these large numbers of newcomers make the transition, multi-language signs and materials will continue to be needed. If people who don’t have excellent command of English can still obtain health information in a more familiar language, if they can communicate easily in time of emergency, the well-being and safety of everyone will be advanced.