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Tribal-U.S. EPA Collaborations to Advance Chemical Risk Evaluations in the U.S.
Citation:
Barton, D., F. Corey, AND J. Zambrana. Tribal-U.S. EPA Collaborations to Advance Chemical Risk Evaluations in the U.S. 2019 SETAC North America Annual Meeting, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA, November 03 - 07, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) works on a government-to-government basis with tribes to protect human health the environment in Indian Country. In this work, EPA and tribes utilize Tribal Partnership groups to facilitate collaborations on topics of mutual interest. These include the National Tribal Science Council (TSC) sponsored by EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD), the National Tribal Toxics Council (NTTC) sponsored by EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OSCPP), and the Tribal Pesticide Program Council (TPPC) also sponsored by OSCPP. One aspect is EPA’s efforts on evaluating chemicals for potential risks to human health and determining risk management actions as needed. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act of 2016 which updated the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) provides a framework for evaluating chemicals. The purpose of risk evaluation is to determine whether a chemical substance presents 1) an unreasonable risk to health or the environment, under the conditions of use, and 2) including an unreasonable risk to a relevant potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation. Because tribes may be a potentially exposed or susceptible population, it is important for chemical risk evaluations to consider ways in which tribal populations may be uniquely exposed to chemicals undergo risk evaluation based on their conditions of use, and tribal lifeways. The EPA – ORD and OSCPP – and tribes through the NTTC and TPPC have been collaborating on how to better understand ways in which tribes may be exposed. The purpose of this presentation is to communicate to attendees at the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) North America Annual Meeting about aspects of this joint work, how tribes may be uniquely exposed due to tribal lifeways, and next steps for building on the work already done. The presentation will be at a symposium sponsored by SETAC’s Indigenous Knowledge and Values Working Group called “Western Research Methods and Indigenous Knowledge: Collaborative Approaches Towards Environmental Quality and Integrity.”
Description:
The National Tribal Toxics Council (NTTC), Tribal Pesticide Program Council (TPPC) and Tribal Science Council (TSC) collaborate with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address issues related to indigenous populations’ exposures to chemicals. The goal of this collaboration is to characterize how tribal exposures to chemicals may differ from that of the general population due to unique tribal customary, cultural, ceremonial and subsistence practices and to identify exposures that result in elevated risks to tribal members. This presentation will highlight key elements of this collaboration and demonstrate how indigenous knowledge can inform the science of exposure and risk assessment. Tribal lifeways are inclusive of, but not limited to, economic, cultural, ceremonial, recreational and subsistence practices. Tribal lifeways include the use of the local ecology for food, medicine, education, religion, occupation, income and all aspects of life. Tribal lifeways stem from tribal culture, which is not an optional lifestyle choice, but rather an essential part of a tribe’s identity. Culturally specific subsistence consumption of locally-harvested foods is particularly important in evaluating tribal exposures. Also, tribal exposures may be influenced by historical patterns of residential construction, unique regional transportation options, and the management of water and waste on tribal lands. While cultural and traditional practices may result in unique exposures for tribes, other factors are important. For example, tribal lands exist in a wide range of geographies and climates that may result in exposures that differ from those of the general population. A current focus of the effort is to ensure that the potential for elevated exposures and risks is considered under the new Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Under TSCA’s risk evaluation process, the EPA is required to “determine whether a chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, without consideration of costs or other non-risk factors, including an unreasonable risk to a potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation identified as relevant to the risk evaluation by the Administrator under the conditions of use.” Our collaborative efforts to develop tribal exposure scenarios as an initial case study will inform the evaluation of potentially exposed populations, including tribal populations, in TSCA risk evaluations.