Grantee Research Project Results
2006 Progress Report: Lifestyles and Cultural Practices of Tribal Populations And Risks from Toxic Substances in the Environment
EPA Grant Number: R831046Title: Lifestyles and Cultural Practices of Tribal Populations And Risks from Toxic Substances in the Environment
Investigators: Harper, Barbara L. , Harris, Stuart G. , Harding, Anna K. , Waterhous, Therese S.
Institution: Oregon State University , Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Current Institution: Oregon State University
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: August 1, 2003 through July 31, 2006
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 1, 2005 through July 31, 2006
Project Amount: $449,970
RFA: Lifestyle and Cultural Practices of Tribal Populations and Risks from Toxic Substances in the Environment (2002) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Justice , Climate Change , Tribal Environmental Health Research , Human Health , Safer Chemicals
Objective:
This partnership between tribal and university scientists is preparing regional subsistence lifeways scenarios that illustrate how tribes may be exposed to environmental contaminants when practicing traditional activities as part of their cultural lifestyle. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has standard suburban exposure scenarios and exposure factors. However, there is no set of multipathway tribal scenarios with exposure factors that reflect the greater environmental contact rates and native diets that comprise subsistence lifeways. The scenarios will be based on the major ecological zones across the mainland United States and can be modified so that they are site-specific for individual tribal use. The scenarios will help tribes dealing with contamination issues or other health- or risk-related needs, such as developing water quality standards or hazardous substances codes.
The Principal Investigator, Barbara Harper is an employee of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) and has a joint faculty appointment with Oregon State University (OSU). Stuart Harris, manager of the CTUIR Department of Science and Engineering, is a co-investigator. Other OSU faculty participants include co-investigators from the Departments of Public Health and Nutrition and Exercise Science, as well as graduate students. Several Tribal representatives are participating from various ecoregions: the Aroostook Band of Micmas Indians (Maine), the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Leech Lake Band, the Swinomish Tribe (Washington, Puget Sound), the Elem Tribe (Pomo, California), the Spokane Tribe (Washington, upper Columbia Basin Plateau), and CTUIR (Oregon, lower Columbia Basin Plateau). All of these tribes are either members of the National Tribal Environmental Council Superfund Working Group (SWG) or have interacted with the SWG and its members.
Progress Summary:
Multipathway exposure scenarios are complete for several Tribes/regions (upper Plateau–CTUIR and Spokane Tribe; Washoe Tribe–Great Basin foothills), 90 percent complete for two others (Elem Pomo–central California valley and Quapaw–Oklahoma), almost complete for literature compilation for three more (Swinomish–Coast Salish-inner Puget Sound; Maine–northeast woodlands). The literature compilation and review consists of ethnohistorical, ecological, and biomedical bibliographic development across a wide range of eco-cultural and health disciplines. Much of this review is focused on reconstructing an early-contact lifestyle rather than a currently-disrupted condition because the goal is to be able to evaluate situations where resources are being restored or preserved, healthy lifestyles regained, and where aboriginal or Treaty rights are being exercised. Therefore, no surveys of current members are planned other than confirmatory cultural interviews. The literature review for the introductory and methodological chapters of the overall report (Tribal Exposure Factors Handbook) is underway.
The approach that is being used in developing the regional subsistence exposure scenarios includes the following steps: (1) describe eco-cultural zones (the environmental setting); (2) identify direct exposure factors (activities and their frequency, duration and intensity, and resource use); (3) reconstruct an original subsistence diet using multiple lines of evidence; (4) determine general and unique tribal exposure pathways through activities of traditional people, such as hunting, gathering, making material items, fishing; and (5) quantify exposure factors for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act-style exposure scenarios.
Ecoregion descriptions and reviews of foraging and nutritional aspects of representative Tribes in several ecoregions are underway. Several suggestions made by the Advisory Board about habitat descriptions and dietary variations within an ecoregion have been incorporated. For example, each ecoregion scenario will need to include recommendations for upland versus lake-river-wetland-focused diets, and inland versus coastal diets where applicable.
The research has identified several data gaps that require further exploration. For example, the current subsistence inhalation rate is extrapolated from literature about suburban and military activities, so a new task was designed to gather data directly from tribal members performing traditional tasks. This will allow us to cross-walk traditional activities with the suburban activities for which there is a great deal of data relating to ventilation rate, oxidation and metabolic systems, caloric needs, fitness levels, and so on. We expect that this will allow us to document the subsistence inhalation rates more accurately, which is needed to evaluate airborne exposures in risk assessment. During the past year, additional research with heart rate monitors and individual oxygen usage calibration, gathered during actual traditional activities, has been initiated. The following activities have been initiated and are ongoing to collect these data:
- Health questionnaire was administered to ensure that volunteers are healthy (developed by OSU).
- The pilot project was approved by OSU’s Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects, and participants sign a consent form.
- Exercise tests are conducted at the Human Performance Laboratory at Eastern Oregon University to correlate inhalation and heart rate for each volunteer. Each person wears the Polar E600 heart monitor during this calibration.
- Participants wear the Polar E-601 heart rate monitor while in the field or at home while performing traditional activities. A log of activities will be kept. No locations recorded; no non-Tribal observers; no specific resources identified other than widely known names; no details of activities.
A second data gap that is being investigated is to determine exposures that may exist during the gathering and using of native plants for food, basketry, medicine, and ceremonial purposes. The questions posed in this study include: What is the uptake of contaminants (metals) into roots, shoots, leaves, and flag during different parts of the year as the plants mobilize starch from roots (spring) or store starch in roots (fall) compared to co-located sediment concentrations? How are contaminants translocated into the different parts of the plant? This pilot project, Cattail as a Surrogate Indicator for Exposure During Traditional Tribal Practice, is being funded by the College of Health and Human Sciences Research and Competitive Grants Program at $10,200. The principal investigator is Anna Harding, with co-investigators, Barbara Harper, K.A. Anderson, and Stuart Harris.
Future Activities:
During the no-cost extension period of the grant, we will: (1) complete the final four exposure scenarios; (2) write the introductory and methods chapters for the Tribal Exposure Factors Handbook; (3) compile and publish the entire Tribal Exposure Factors Handbook; (4) continue to collect heart rate data for traditional activities; (5) complete the activities outlined in the funded grant to study cattail as a surrogate indicator of exposure; and (6) participate in either the joint effort to publish research results in a monograph series or otherwise in peer-reviewed journals.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 16 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Native American, exposure, subsistence food patterns, cultural activity patterns, community assessment, genetic predisposition, hazardous environmental exposures, human health risk,, RFA, Health, Scientific Discipline, PHYSICAL ASPECTS, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN HEALTH, cultural diversity, Health Risk Assessment, Exposure, Risk Assessments, Susceptibility/Sensitive Population/Genetic Susceptibility, Biochemistry, Physical Processes, genetic susceptability, Immunology, Risk Assessment, ecological risk assessment, behavioral characteristics, hazardous environmental exposures, environmental genetics, health risks, cultrural practices, genetic predisposition, Human Health Risk Assessment, human exposure, nutritional information, environmental health literacy, environmental toxicants, cultural practices, native americans, tribal population, environmentally caused disease, human susceptibility, dietary exposure, environmental health education, Native American, genetic susceptibility, human health riskRelevant Websites:
http://www.hhs.oregonstate.edu/ph/tribal-grant/index.html Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.