New Blood: The Promise of Environmental Health Citizen Science Projects

PDF Version (4.5 MB) About This Article Published: 2 November 2017 Note to readers with disabilities: EHP strives to ensure that all journal content is accessible to all readers. However, some figures and Supplemental Material published in EHP articles may not conform to 508 standards due to the complexity of the information being presented. If you need assistance accessing journal content, please contact ehponline@niehs.nih.gov. Our staff will work with you to assess and meet your accessibility needs within 3 working days.  Mónica Ramírez-Andreotta sat on a folding chair holding a notebook and pen in the Humboldt Elementary School gym. It was August 2008, and Leah Butler, a project manager with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was leading a public meeting about the recent designation of a Superfund site within the small community of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona. The agency had determined that more than 4 million m3 of mine tailings left behind by the Iron King Mine and the Humboldt Smelter posed a health risk to the residents.1 Butler explained to the audience that wind and water erosion could carry the hazardous waste, which contained arsenic, lead, and other contaminants, from the former industrial properties into Dewey-Humboldt neighborhoods, potentially contaminating residents’ water, soil, and air. She then outlined what the agency’s cleanup efforts would entail and how the community would be i...
Source: EHP Research - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Focus Source Type: research