Restoring Northeast Cape for the Health and Well-Being of the Yupik Communities of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska

我们之前在圣劳伦斯岛(SLI)的东北角(NEC)进行的社区参与式研究 发现多氯联苯、有机氯农药和汞的水平升高 (Hg)在以前用于防御(FUD)地点的分水岭内的沉积物和生物群中。我们发现自己被提升了 由于远距离运输和军事来源，SLI患者血清中的OCP和PCB含量 与NEC有传统和家族联系的人的多氯联苯水平最高，包括 维持生计。持久性有机污染物(POPs)在我们的常驻鱼类模型中的浓度，刺鱼， SLI居民血清中的浓度与SLI居民的血清浓度密切相关，表明他们作为哨兵物种的有效性 在SLI上。尽管NEC进行了广泛的补救措施，但苏奇图格内克(Suqi)营养水平较低的鱼类寿命较短 河流仍然受到来自FUD现场的多氯联苯、有机氯农药和汞的污染，水平超过EPA 关于癌症风险的鱼的消费指南。苏岐河鱼类污染物水平升高和健康受损 表明对居民的潜在健康威胁，以及现场补救工作未完成。我们的首要目标是 促进对接触途径和对人类健康的长期后果的科学理解 与FUD现场的污染物暴露相关，并提供保护健康所需的干预措施 以及SLI人民在NEC重建其传统社区时的长期福祉。在目标1中， 我们建议在先前发现的基础上，继续与SLI社区合作，以 调查与持续污染有关的潜在暴露途径和生物影响 位于SLI上的NEC的FUD现场。我们将分析苏岐河和塔皮萨加克河水中的多氯联苯，有机氯农药和汞， 以及在传统食物和空气样本中，以评估摄入和吸入作为潜在接触 小路。我们将以刺鱼作为哨兵物种的工作为基础，确定其生物学效应 污染物对内分泌功能和器官特异性组织病理学的影响。在目标2中，我们将描述和 量化与NEC有关的人群中污染物的身体负担及其与健康结果的联系。在AIM 3，我们将通报保护SLI人民健康的决定和干预措施，并使 在NEC建立传统社区。我们将提供将导致改进的信息 补救，提供数据和传统知识，为公共卫生咨询和评估提供信息， 并制定以社区为基础的公共卫生行动计划和干预措施，以保护健康，确保公平 决策，并恢复NEC社区。这项研究将在当地和极地周围进行 对土著社区的影响。在本地，我们将提供数据并实施必要的行动，以重新 在NEC建立社区。鉴于数以千计的这样的冷战军事地点存在于整个 北极，通常靠近土著社区，我们的项目可以作为环境保护的典范 以及其他北极土著人民的健康监测和政策行动。

Our previous community-based participatory research at Northeast Cape (NEC) on St. Lawrence Island (SLI) found elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and mercury (Hg) in sediments and biota within the watershed at the formerly used defense (FUD) site. We found elevated OCPs and PCBs in serum of the SLI people due to both long-range transport and military-derived sources, with the highest levels of PCBs in people who have traditional and familial connections with NEC, including subsistence. Concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in our resident fish model, the stickleback, closely mirror concentrations in the blood serum of SLI residents, indicating their efficacy as sentinel species on SLI. Despite extensive remediation at NEC, short-lived lower trophic level fish in the Suqitughneq (Suqi) River remain contaminated with PCBs, OCPs, and Hg originating from the FUD site, at levels that exceed EPA fish consumption guidelines for cancer risk. Elevated contaminant levels and disrupted health in Suqi River fish indicate potential health threats for residents and that site remediation is incomplete. Our overarching goal is to advance scientific understanding of the exposure pathways and long-term human health consequences associated with contaminant exposure from FUD sites and inform interventions necessary to protect the health and long-term well-being of the people of SLI as they re-establish their traditional community at NEC. In Aim 1, we propose to build on our prior discoveries and continue our collaboration with the communities of SLI to investigate potential exposure pathways and biological impacts of persistent contamination associated with the FUD site at NEC on SLI. We will analyze PCBs, OCPs, and Hg in the water of the Suqi and Tapisaggak rivers, as well as in traditional foods and air samples to assess ingestion and inhalation as potential exposure pathways. We will build on work with stickleback as a sentinel species to determine biological effects of contaminants on endocrine function and organ-specific histopathology. In Aim 2, we will characterize and quantify body burden of contaminants, and linkages to health outcomes, in people associated with NEC. In Aim 3, we will inform decisions and interventions to protect the health of the people of SLI and enable re- establishment of the traditional community at NEC. We will provide information that will lead to improved remediation, provide data and traditional knowledge to inform public health consultations and assessments, and develop a community-based public health action plan and interventions to protect health, ensure equity in decision-making, and restore the NEC community. This study will have local and circumpolar arctic implications for Indigenous communities. Locally, we will provide data and implement actions necessary for re- establishing the community at NEC. Given that thousands of such Cold War military sites exist throughout the Arctic, often in close proximity to Indigenous communities, our project may serve as a model for environmental and health monitoring and policy action by other Arctic Indigenous Peoples.