News
Press Release - April 20, 2004
USEPA News Release - April 20, 2004 (Adobe Acrobat file)
National Center for Environmental Research - April 20, 2004
OSU News & Communications - August 25, 2004
Tribal Regional Subsistence Lifeways Exposure Scenarios.
Oregon State University (OSU), Corvallis, $449, 970 over 3 years.
This partnership between tribal and university scientists will prepare 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 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. USEPA 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 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 appointment with OSU. Stuart Harris, manager of the CTUIR Department of Science and Engineering, is a co-investigator. OSU faculty particpants include public health, nutrition, geography, and exercise physiology faculty, as well as graduate students. Several Tribes are participating from various ecoregions: the Aroostook Band of Micmas Indians (Maine), the Minnesota Chippewa, the Swinomish Tribe (Washington, Puget Sound), the Elem Tribe (Pomo, California), the Spokane Tribe (WA, upper Columbia Basin Plateau, and CTUIR (OR, lower Columbia Basin Plateau). All of these tribes are either members of the NTEC Superfund Working Group or have interacted with the SWG and its members. We would like to thank OSWER and OPPTS for their encouragement and efforts in risk and exposure assessment.
Contact information: Barbara Harper, bharper@amerion.com, Anna Harding, anna.harding@oregonstate.edu, or Stuart Harris, stuartharris@ctuir.com
Contacts at EPA: Estella Waldman, 202-343-9803 and Nigel Fields.
STAR Grant (see EPA press release, April 20, 2004).
