Community Engagement Core E

Objective

Establish a collaborative project that includes the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) tribal agencies, tribal and university investigators, and tribal community members to better understand health risks that may be associated with PAH exposures on the Reservation and to assist in human capacity building with tribal partners. Map of CTUIR land in NE Oregon

Activities

• Assess PAH exposures of concern to the Tribes related to ambient air and traditional and cultural practices
  
  • Ambient air monitoring on the Reservation at selected sites
  • Testing during traditional smoking of fish and game
  • Collection and analysis of air and urine samples from Tribal members smoking food
  • Develop capacity among Tribal air staff to do sampling, monitoring—on Reservation and at OSU

• Measure PAH concentrations in foods prepared using indigenous smoking preservation methods
  

• Develop culturally appropriate risk reduction approaches and outreach strategies that engage the community and offer the best opportunity for improved health
  • Using the findings and current literature to estimate overall PAH exposures
  • Developing community definition of health and cultural well-being
  • Engage the community in designing risk reduction strategies
  • Disseminate information both locally and more broadly to regional and national Tribal communities

• Meet on annual basis with interdisciplinary advisory group who will provide overall guidance to project

People

Anna Harding, Core Leader, Oregon State University

Molly Kile, Co-Leader, Oregon State University

Jack Butler, Air Quality Technician, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR)

Barbara Harper, Co-Leader,  Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR)

Stuart Harris, Co-Leader, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR)

David Stone, Co-Leader, Oregon State University

Isabela Mackey, Program Coordinator, Oregon State University

Recent Publications

Harper BL, Harding AK, Harris S, Berger P. Subsistence exposure scenarios for tribal applications. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal. Volume 18, Issue 4, 2012.

Forsberg ND, Stone D, Harding A, Harper B, Harris S, Matzke M, Cardenas A, Waters K, Anderson KA. Effect of Native American fish smoking methods on dietary exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and possible risks to human health. J. Agric. Food Chem., 2012, 60 (27), pp 6899–6906. DOI: 10.1021/jf300978m

CTUIR-OSU Partnership Newsletter 2011. Published November 2011 (View Newsletter in pdf)

Harding A, Harper B, Stone D, O'Neill C, Berger P, Harris S, et al. 2011. Conducting Research with Tribal Communities: Sovereignty, Ethics and Data-Sharing Issues. Environ Health Perspect :-. http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1103904

Presentations

(bold represents presenting author)

Harding, A., Harper, B., Harris, S., Stone, D., Anderson, K., Simonich, S., Uesugi, S., Forsberg, N., Motorykin, O., Cardenas, A., Waters,K., Anderson, K.  (2012). Working with a Native American community characterize (and define) their “risk”: Risk as a value-based decision based on important cultural practices.  Oral presentation at the 140th APHA Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.  Abstracts published online in Abstracts of the APHA 140th Meeting.
 
Cardenas, A., Sudakin, D., Smit, E., Harding, A. (2012). Naphthalene exposure and relationship with hemoglobin and hematocrit in White, Black, and Hispanic adults: Results from the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.  Poster presentation at the 140th APHA Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.  Abstracts published online in Abstracts of the APHA 140th Meeting.
 
Forsberg, N., Stone, D., Harding, A., Harper, B., Harris, S., Matzke, M., Cardenas, A., Waters, K., Anderson, K.  (2012). Informing communities—a collaborative investigation of Native American PAH dietary exposure scenarios and possible risks to human health.  Oral presentation at the Superfund Research Center Annual Meeting, Raleigh, NC.
 
Uesugi, S., Harding, A., Harper, B., Harris, S., Schure, M., Kile, M., Goins, T. (2012). Environment and health connections: Perspectives from community members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.  Poster presentation at the Superfund Research Center Annual Meeting, Raleigh, NC.

Harper, B. & Harding, A. (2011).  Addressing tribal exposures to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and building tribal capacity through a tribal-university partnership.  National webinar presentation through the Superfund Research Program Risk e-Learning series, sponsored jointly by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the USEPA, May  23, 2011.

Harding, A., Harper, B., Harris, S., Stone, D., Uesugi, S., Berger, P., Butler, J., Jensen, L.,  Power, L. (2010). Tribal-university partnership to address tribal exposures to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and improve community health.  Oral presentation at the 138th APHA Annual Meeting, Denver, CO.  Abstracts published online in Abstracts of the APHA 138th Meeting.

Harper, B., Harding, A., Harris, S., Sudakin, D., Stone, D., Uesugi, S., Hirsch, N., Jensen, L. (2010). Tribal-university partnership to address tribal exposures to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and build capacity through scientific training and technology transfer.  Oral presentation at the SETAC North America 31st Annual Meeting, Portland, OR.

Harding, A., Sudakin, D., Harper, B., Harris, S., Stone, D., Uesugi, S., Hirsch, N., Cardenas, A. (2010). Tribal-university partnership to address tribal exposures to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and build capacity through scientific training and technology transfer.  Poster presented at the Superfund Research Program Annual Meeting, Portland, OR.

Harding, A., Sudakin, D., Harper, B., Harris, S., Stone, D., Uesugi, S., Hirsch, N., Jensen, L.,  Power, L. (2010). Tribal-university partnership to address tribal exposures to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and build capacity through scientific training and technology transfer.  Poster presented at the Partnerships for Environmental Public Health Conference, Research Triangle Park, VA.

Major Accomplishments

• Installed (with Project 5 and CTUIR personnel) ambient PAH monitors on the CTUIR Reservation.
• Trained a Tribal Air Quality Technician to collect PAH filters; transferred responsibility for air sampling technology for gas- and particle-phase PAHs to CTUIR.
• Facilitated collection of personal air sampling data during traditional smoking of salmon, the first study of its kind conducted with tribal members.
• Collected salmon samples in two types of structures with two different woods. Core D analyzed samples and Core C analyzed statistics; concentrations of PAHs in traditional smoked foods exceed concentrations of PAHs in commercial salmon by factors of 40-400.
• Sponsored a Tribal Research Symposium focused on Tribal legal issues, research ethics, concepts in indigenous and western science, and integration of socio-cultural health indicators in Tribal risk research.
• Developed a Material and Data Sharing Agreement, published it in EHP, distributed it to regional EPA Tribal Liaisons and regional Indian Health Service, and posted on PEPH Resource Center for access by other SRPs.

View Tribal Resources

In May 2011 CEC, in collaboration with Project 6 and the Analytical Chemistry Core, facilitated air sampling within
traditional smoking structures.

Graduate students assisted with building the traditional
tipi to smoke salmon.

View the Personal Air Sampler Training Videos

Jack Butler (CTUIR) and Staci Simonich (Project 6) investigate sites for placing the ambient air sampler.

Installing the ambient air sampler
From left, Jill Schrlau (OSU, Simonich Lab), Chen Shejun (OSU, Guangzhou Instititute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences),  Albertson White (CTUIR), and Jack Butler (CTUIR).