Uranium in Food Grown in an American Indian Community

美洲印第安人社区种植的食物中含有铀

• 批准号: 8200092
• 负责人: Christine Samuel-Nakamura
• 金额: $ 3.42万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-01-01 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8200092
• 关键词: Advocacy; Affect; Agriculture; American Indians; Animals; Area; Awareness; Behavior; Blood Circulation; Botanicals; Breathing; Cardiovascular system; Characteristics; Chronic; Cohort Studies; Communities; Comparative Study; Consumption; Coupled; Data; Deposition; Domestic Sheep; Education; Educational Intervention; Enrollment; Environmental Health; Evaluation; Exposure to; Food; Food Chain; Future; Goals; Gray unit of radiation dose; Harvest; Health; Heavy Metals; Herb; Home environment; Housing; Human; Impact evaluation; Indian reservation; Individual; Ingestion; Intervention; Irrigation; Kidney; Kilogram; Knowledge; Leadership; Left; Life; Liver; Livestock; Mass Spectrum Analysis; Melons; Military Personnel; Mining; Monitor; Navajo; Nervous system structure; New Mexico; Newsletter; Outcomes Research; Parents; Participant; Pathway interactions; Plants; Plasma; Play; Poaceae; Policy Developments; Population; Precipitation; Prevention; Publications; Questionnaires; Radial; Reporting; Research; Reservations; Resources; Respondent; Risk; Risk Factors; Route; Sampling; Shapes; Sheep; Site; Soil; Source; Squash; Statutes and Laws; Structure; Study Subject; Surface; Tail; Tissues; Toxic effect; Uranium; Water; animal data; anthropogenesis; base; bean; bone; cohort; drinking; food chain contamination; muscular system; neighborhood safety; response; uptake; wasting

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The broad, long-term objective of this study is to identify the health risks and impact of uranium (U) contamination on harvested animals and plants on the Dini (formerly known as Navajo) reservation. This study provides a food chain assessment of U exposure in an American Indian (AI) reservation in northwestern New Mexico. The study setting was a prime target of U mining for military purposes from 1945 to 1988. More than 1,100 unreclaimed abandoned U mines and structures remain. These abandoned U mines, structures and tailings contaminate the land and vegetation on which humans and livestock consume. The specific aims of the study are to: (1) describe the dietary behavior in Dini residents specifically related to ingestion of locally harvested animals and plants; (2) compare U levels in locally harvested animals and plants from areas known to have high levels of environmental U contamination to those from areas known to have low levels of U contamination; (3) explore potential routes of U exposure for locally harvested plants and animals; and (4) disseminate study findings to the leadership and community on the Navajo reservation. This is a comparison study examining contamination levels in locally harvested animals and plants from reservation areas known to have high levels of environmental U contamination to those from areas known to have low levels of U contamination. Data obtained from the parent study or the DiNEH (Dini Network for Environmental Health) cohort (N=1,304) will serve as the source from which to identify subjects and samples for the research. Of the DiNEH cohort respondents, those individuals who reported positively to questionnaire responses to harvesting sheep (n=280) and crops (n=180) will be selected into the present study. Animal data U levels will be determined on a scale of micrograms (<g) per kilogram (kg) and plants will be reported at Parts Per Million (PPM). Commonly harvested foodstuffs will be examined in this community. Uranium concentration levels will be derived from harvested Ovis aries or sheep (n=38), botanicals including herbs and forage (n=26), crops (n=98), and soil utilizing Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The representative animal (O. aries), crops (e.g. corn, squash, beans, melon), and plant materials including local forage grasses and herbs will be collected from sample areas within a two mile (3.2 km) radius from the central part of abandoned U mines, tailings/waste piles, and structures. The study will explore potential routes (e.g. water and soil) of U exposure for locally harvested plants and animals. Environmental assessments of soil will be integrated with the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) and DiNEH data. This research will determine if locally harvested animals and plants on the Dini Reservation are safe for consumption. Study findings will be disseminated and educational information will be provided to the Dini community via newsletters, community and chapter house forums. Findings of U concentration levels will be valuable for predicting U transfer to harvested food and for conducting future evaluations of the impacts of U mining on critical food chain. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This study will examine the dietary contributory risk factors of anthropogenic uranium exposure in harvested food chain among the Navajo Dini population. This a descriptive comparative study that has the potential to answer scientific questions for various communities that rely heavily on locally grown food exposed to mining contamination; the study will augment further inquiry, prevention efforts, intervention, monitoring, education, support legislation, policy development, and advocacy.

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究的广泛、长期目标是确定铀（U）污染对迪尼（以前称为纳瓦霍）保留区收获的动植物的健康风险和影响。本研究提供了一个食物链评估的U暴露在美国印第安人（AI）保留在西北部新墨西哥州。该研究背景是1945年至1988年期间出于军事目的进行铀开采的主要目标。目前仍有1,100多个未开垦的废弃铀矿和建筑物。这些废弃的铀矿、建筑物和尾矿污染了人类和牲畜消费的土地和植被。研究的具体目的是：（1）描述迪尼居民与当地收获的动植物摄入有关的饮食行为;（2）比较已知环境铀污染水平高的地区和已知铀污染水平低的地区当地收获的动植物中的铀水平;（3）探索当地收获的动植物接触铀的潜在途径;（4）向纳瓦霍保留地的领导层和社区传播研究结果。这是一项比较研究，检查已知环境铀污染水平高的保留区与已知铀污染水平低的保留区当地收获的动植物的污染水平。从母研究或DiNEH（Dini环境健康网络）队列（N= 1，304）获得的数据将作为确定研究受试者和样本的来源。在DiNEH队列受访者中，将选择那些对收获绵羊（n=280）和作物（n=180）的问卷回答呈阳性的个人进行本研究。动物数据U水平将以微克（<g）/千克（kg）的标度确定，植物将以百万分之一（PPM）报告。通常收获的食物将在这个社区进行检查。将利用电感耦合等离子体质谱法（ICP-MS）从收获的绵羊或绵羊（n=38）、植物（包括草药和饲料）（n=26）、作物（n=98）和土壤中得出铀浓度水平。代表性动物（O.将从废弃铀矿、尾矿/废物堆和建筑物中心两英里（3.2公里）半径范围内的样品区收集作物（如玉米、南瓜、豆类、甜瓜）和植物材料（包括当地牧草和草药）。这项研究将探讨当地收获的动植物接触铀的可能途径（如水和土壤）。土壤环境评估将与国家铀资源评估（NURE）和DiNEH数据相结合。这项研究将确定迪尼保护区当地收获的动植物是否可以安全食用。研究结果将得到传播，教育信息将通过通讯、社区和分会论坛提供给迪尼社区。铀浓度水平的调查结果将是有价值的，预测铀转移到收获的食物和进行未来的评估的影响，铀开采对关键食物链。 公共卫生关系：本研究将探讨纳瓦霍迪尼人口中收获食物链中人为铀暴露的饮食贡献风险因素。这是一项描述性比较研究，有可能回答严重依赖当地种植的食物暴露于采矿污染的各种社区的科学问题;该研究将加强进一步的调查，预防工作，干预，监测，教育，支持立法，政策制定和宣传。