![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
Featured Story
Site Navigation
 |
Research Project Search
EPA Awards $2.2 Million in Grants to Study Health Effects of Environmental Contaminants on Tribal Populations
April 20, 2004
Contact: Estella Waldman, 202-343-9803
EPA’s Chief Scientist in the Office of the Science Advisor William Farland today announced $2.2 million in grants to establish research partnerships to study the health effects of contaminants in the environment on tribal populations. Tribes may be at especially high risk for environmentally caused diseases because of their subsistence lifestyles, occupations and customs, and/or environmental releases impacting tribal lands.
The projects were funded through a program sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Science to Achieve Results (STAR) competitive grants program in co- operation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
“Protecting human health, especially for groups that are particularly at high risk from environmental pollution, is one of EPA’s highest priorities,” said Farland. Tribes have a close relationship with the environment that impacts their lifestyles and includes subsistence diets, hunting, gathering, medicine, ceremonial customs and other cultural practices. We must understand how to minimize or eliminate any environmental risks associated with these lifestyles.”
The tribal-academic partnerships will focus on subsistence issues related to mercury, PCBs, pesticides, and other chemicals. Management strategies leading to a reduction in risk from exposure to these and other chemicals will also be investigated. The grants were awarded to the following groups:
ALASKA
Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT), Anchorage, $449,000 – The Siberian Yu'pik people of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska have relatively high serum levels of PCBs and pesticides. This ACAT, in partnership with scientists at the State University of New York at Albany, will examine traditional foods of the Yu'pik people for PCBs, three pesticides, and several metals to determine which are the most significant sources of exposure, and how food preparation influences the levels of contaminants.
FLORIDA
Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, $437,399 - Building on existing collaborations with local authorities and citizens of Alaska’s Northern Slope, researchers will develop outreach tools and messages, delivered by appropriate Native spokespersons, to empower Alaskan Inupiats with insights and information that will allow them to choose options to reduce their risk from hydrocarbon exposure and to maintain good nutrition and health. Native populations with subsistence lifestyles in the Arctic may have exposed to petroleum hydrocarbons in their diets from many sources.
NEW YORK
Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment, Inc., Hogansburg, $450,000 – Scientists will examine the impacts of toxic substances on the traditional cultural practices of Haudenosaunee Nations. Teachers, youth, and the Akwesasne Environmental Task Force staff will be trained to reduce the risk associated with exposure to toxic substances at the same time that health is protected and traditional cultural practices are supported.
OREGON
Oregon State University, Corvallis, $449, 970 – This partnership between tribal and university scientists will prepare regional scenarios that illustrate where tribes are traditionally exposed to environmental contaminants. The scenarios will be based on the major ecological zones across the mainland US and can be modified so that they are site-specific for individual tribal use.
WISCONSIN
Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Odanah, $445,830 - Tribal researchers in collaboration with Citizens for a Better Environment of Milwaukee, will develop, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive, systematic and culturally sensitive intervention program to reduce risks associated with subsistence-based consumption of fish contaminated by methylmercury. The study will focus on the Anishinaabe tribe in Northern Wisconsin.
EPA relies on quality science as the basis for sound policy and decision-making. EPA’s laboratories, research centers, and grantees are building the scientific foundation needed to support the Agency’s mission to safeguard human health and the environment.
For more information about these grants, please visit: http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/recipients.display/rfa_id/335. For more information on EPA's STAR program, see: http://www.epa.gov/ncer/.