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The Community Outreach Core (COC) of the University of California, San Diego Superfund Basic Research Program (UCSD SBRP) is an environmental justice project that builds the capacity of vulnerable Tribes and urban-poor communities in US EPAs Region 9 and along the U.S.-Mexico border to identify, prioritize and resolve environmental and public health issues related to hazardous waste sites and Superfund toxicants.

Among those most vulnerable to Superfund toxicants in the United States are Native American communities (1,2,3). The vulnerability of indigenous communities to toxicant exposures is, in part, due to poverty, unique exposures associated with tribal lifestyles (i.e., diet, reliance on groundwater) and also longstanding gaps in infrastructure and institutional capacity to address the impacts of dumping and other polluting activities that disproportionately impact Tribes (4,5,6,7). San Diego County has seventeen federally recognized Tribes, making it the county with the highest number of tribes in the continental U.S. (8). The diversity of Tribes in our region provides unique opportunities to address the needs of this important at-risk population. Since 2000, the COC team has been building and strengthening its relationship with Tribes in the U.S.-Mexico border, working closely with community-based efforts to address high priority environmental health issues dealing with exposure to Superfund toxicants. An important aim of this work is to build transferable models for Tribal-SRP partnerships and couple our regional initiatives to National efforts by the U.S. EPA. The COC’s efforts are informed by National-scale advisory groups like the U.S. EPA National Tribal Science Council (NTSC), of which our Tribal partner Dr. Marshall Cheung was a former member (former Region 9 Tribal Representative) (9,10). The U.S. EPA’s NTSC is committed to developing a better understanding of the priority science issues impacting Tribes from across the country and to addressing these issues as an integral part of EPA’s formal planning processes. The COC coordinates its regional efforts with U.S. EPA’s NTSC to model ways of addressing issues of national priority (e.g., exposure to dioxins in Indian Country) at the regional level.

In addition, the urban poor along the U.S.-Mexico Border share the increased risk of exposure to Superfund chemicals seen in Native American communities. The U.S.-Mexico Border is defined as the region extending 100-km north and south of the international boundary. According to the U.S. EPA, rapid population growth, unplanned development, and inadequate infrastructure in the U.S.-Mexico Border have led to the degradation of the environment and public health (11). Lack of infrastructure on the Mexican side of the Border causes serious solid waste and wastewater management problems that contribute significantly to the presence of toxicants in the border environment (12). Complicating matters is the fact that the international border bisects watersheds. This adds difficult political, legal, economic and cultural challenges to an already complex problem.  In addition, naturally occurring northward flows of pathogens, toxicants and hazardous wastes from Mexico impact the environment, economy and human health on the U.S.-side of the border. In the U.S.-Mexico Border region, a wide array of health effects including cognitive impairment, neural tube defects, pesticide poisoning, and elevated blood lead levels have been linked to poor environmental conditions (e.g., contamination of soil with lead or chemical releases associated with industrial activities) (13,14,15). A myriad of examples of these Border environmental health issues can be found in the binational Clean Water Act 303(d)-listed impaired Tijuana River Watershed, that is shared by the U.S. and Mexico and is considered to be the most impacted basin in the San Diego-Tijuana region and perhaps along the entire U.S.-Mexico border (16). Published research indicates that the Tijuana River has some of the highest toxicity levels of all Southern California rivers and that Superfund chemicals derived from urban and industrial point and non-point sources are the primary source of toxicity (17,18). Located within the Tijuana River Watershed, is San Diego’s sister city of Tijuana. Tijuana is one of the busiest commercial and industrial centers along the U.S.-Mexico border. It is home to thousands of manufacturing facilities (maquiladoras) that produce a wide range of consumer goods (e.g., plasma TVs, cell phones, electronics). One of the major environmental issues at the border concerns the disposal of vast quantities of hazardous wastes by maquiladoras. Maquiladoras are companies that import parts and raw materials, including hazardous substances, into Mexico from the US and from other countries, as part of their assembly/manufacturing process. The maquiladoras are required by Mexican law to return all hazardous materials and wastes generated in maquiladora production processes back to the country of origin (mainly the U.S.). However, since the costs of proper disposal are very high, much of the hazardous waste is improperly handled and dumped illegally in Mexico. Instances of Superfund-like sites in Mexico drain into the Tijuana river and subsequently the United States. We worked closely with government agencies to document soil lead contamination at one site in the Tijuana River Watershed called Metales y Derivados. This site had 7000 tons of lead, cadmium and arsenic waste that was abandoned by an industrial battery recycling operation (19,20). The extremely high lead levels we measured in that area (27g/Kg) were a serious cause for concern until the site was confined. This and other evidence of illegal dumping of industrial wastes may be impacting both ecosystems and human health in the border environment. Furthermore, climate change will likely introduce new challenges into border environmental and human health problems influencing the fate, transport and transformation of toxicants and exposure routes in ways we’ve yet to understand. As an example, ingestion of toxicants through airborne dust may be an important route of exposure to Superfund chemicals along the border, particularly in rapidly growing poor human settlements (i.e., Colonias). Climate models developed by our partners in Dr. Dan Cayan Lab in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography show an unstable future climate with the increasing surface temperatures and decreasing rainfall leading to dryer conditions in the region. This situation is expected to increase rates of erosion, mobilization, and perhaps exposure to contaminated soils (21,22,23).

CITATIONS:

1. Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America. 2007. Engaging Indigenous Communities in the Work of the CEC: Regular Session of the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) 07-03. 25–26 September, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Summary Record Available:
http://www.cec.org/Storage/24/1569_Summary_Record_07-03_en.pdf

2. Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America. 2007b. Making the case for better pollution data in Indigenous communities. 
Available: http://www.cec.org/Page.asp?PageID=122&ContentID=2586&AA_PrintFriendlyMode=True

3. Sarabia, H. 2008a. Indigenous Peoples and Toxics in the U.S.-Mexico Border and Latin America http://www.gpeig.org.php54.websitetestlink.com/images/uploads/gpeig_newsletter_Sum2008.pdf .
GPEIG: Newsletter of the Global Planning Educators Interest Group. p. 13-14.

4. Chan HM, Receveur O. 2000. Mercury in the traditional diet of indigenous peoples in Canada. Environmental Pollution 110:1-2

5. Harris S, Harper BL. 2001. Lifestyles, Diets, and Native American Exposure Factors Related to Possible Lead Exposures and Toxicity. Environmental Research 86: 140-148

6. DeCaprio AP, Johnson GW, Tarbell AM, Carpenter DO, Chiarenzelli JR, Morse GS, et al. 2005. Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure assessment by multivariate statistical analysis of serum congener profiles in an adult Native American population. Environmental Research 98: 284-302.

7. Delistraty D, Van Verst S, Rochetter EA. 2010. Radiological risk from consuming fish and wildlife to Native Americans on the Hanford Site (USA). Environmental Research 110: 169-177

8. San Diego Association of Governments (SAN DAG).  SANDAG reaches out to tribal governments.  Available: http://www.sandag.org/index.asp?newsid=306&fuseaction=news.detail

9. 29 Palms Tribal EPA Website. Available: http://www.tepa29.org/index.html
[accessed 3 April 2010]

10. United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). National Tribal Science Council. Available: http://www.epa.gov/osp/tribes/who.htm [accessed 4 April 2010]

11. United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Border 2012 Program. Available:
http://www.epa.gov/usmexicoborder/framework/index.html

12. Sarabia, H. 2008b. Toxics in Tijuana’s Laureles Canyon: Irregular Settlements, Human Health and Ecosystem Integrity. GPEIG: Newsletter of the Global Planning Educators Interest Group. Summer. Available:http://www.gpeig.org.php5-4.websitetestlink.com/images/uploads/gpeig_newsletter_Sum2008.pdf, p. 15-16.

13. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2000a. Bordering on Environmental Disaster. EHP 108:A308-315.

14. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2000b. Studying Lead in Tijuana Tots. EHP 108:A301. Available: http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2000/108-7/forum.html

15. Gonzalez EJ, Pham PG, Erickson JE, Baker DB. 2002. Tijuana Childhood Lead Risk Assessment Revised: Validating a GIS Model with Environmental Data. Env. Man. 29: 559-565.

16. San Diego County. Project Clean Water. Tijuana Watershed. Available: http://www.projectcleanwater.org/html/ws_tijuana.html [accessed 12 April 2010]

17. Riveles, K., and Gersberg, R.M. (1999) Toxicity identification evaluation of runoff from the Tijuana River. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol. 63: 625-632.

18. Gersberg RM, Daft D, Yorkey D. 2004. Temporal pattern of toxicity in runoff from the Tijuana River Watershed. Wat. Res. 38:559-568.

19. North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). Metales y Derivados. Final Factual Record. Available: http://www.cec.org/Page.asp?PageID=2001&ContentID=2372&SiteNodeID=250&AA_PrintFriendlyMode=True

20. Environmental Health Coalition. Metales y Derivados Website. Available:
http://www.environmentalhealth.org/BorderEHC/BorderPollution.html

21. Franco, G., D.R. Cayan, A. Luers, M. Hanemann, B. Croes, 2008: Linking climate change science with policy in California. Climatic Change 87: S7-S20

22. Cayan, D.R., E.P. Maurer, M.D. Dettinger, M. Tyree and K. Hayhoe, 2008: Climate Change Scenarios for the California Region. Climatic Change 87: S21-S42

23. University of California, San Diego (UCSD). UC San Diego News Center. Water Shortages: The New Normal. Available: http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/watershortages/index.html

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Since 2005, the Community Outreach Core has sought to achieve five aims geared around challenges of communication and environmental justice and knowledge systems integration: (1) build a Tribal Regional Workbench Web site; (2) share SRP-generated knowledge and tools; (3)host a regional gathering of tribal leaders and scientists; (4) facilitate training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students; and (5) to co-author a series of papers, articles, and other publications with Tribal partners.

As an example, with respect to advancing aims concerning communication and environmental justice, the USCD COC has worked with Tribes impacted by hazardous wastes to develop an effective process model for supporting Tribal efforts through the use of Information Technologies. During the 2005-2007 grant period, the COC conducted several meetings with partners to design and develop an environmental health portal for Tribes focused on priority toxicant issues identified by the U.S.EPA National Tribal Science Council. However, IT development efforts for such a Portal were met with limited interest by Tribes as it did not include topics perceived to be of higher priority (i.e., information and training on disaster preparedness for wildfires, pandemic flu, earthquakes). In 2007 an opportunity presented itself to systematically assess the needs and priorities of Tribes through a new Tribal-Academic-Government coalition and under the broader umbrella of environmental health. The UCSD SRP participated, alongside Paula Stigler of the San Diego Foundation, in the formation of the Tribal Environmental Health Collaborative. The TEHC is a regional Tribal-led effort to systematically identify, prioritize and address environmental health issues on Tribal land through Tribal-government-academic partnerships. As a participant in that effort, we provided access to expert advice from SRP researchers, logistical support, internship opportunities and maintained IT infrastructure to support inter-Tribal, Academic and Government collaborations. The COC provided the Tribal members of the TEHC with the access to the same online communication and collaboration tools used by the UCSD SRP, allowing initial efforts of the TEHC to move forward from conversations about environmental health in Tribal land to a formal organized effort in an organized and streamlined way. The IT tools provided to the TEHC members facilitated communication during the critical initial stages of their work.

Our experience shows that IT technologies can serve the needs of vulnerable communities if implemented and developed around problem-oriented teams that are working to address real-world problems on-the-ground. Presently, we are actively seeking to form university-community partnerships with organizations serving indigenous and urban-poor communities to: 1) systematically assess environmental health needs related to exposure to toxic chemicals in the region, 2) prioritize regional environmental health needs and 3) develop community-based projects and interventions to reduce or eliminate exposures to toxic chemicals and protect the environment. Documenting effective process models for building problem-oriented, community-based coalitions that cut across traditional divisions (academia, community, government, industry, etc) and disciplines to address environmental health issues at the regional level is needed.

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