{"id":49085,"date":"2017-10-17T09:33:34","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T16:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=49085"},"modified":"2017-10-17T09:33:34","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T16:33:34","slug":"yupik-pollutants-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/yupik-pollutants-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting future generations: NAU scientists study Arctic community\u2019s exposure to toxic pollutants"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kerry Bennett<\/strong>
\nOffice of the Vice President for Research<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/em>St. Lawrence Island, just south of the Bering Strait in Arctic Alaska, is one of the most isolated places on the planet. Wild, mountainous and remote, the island is inhabited by 1,600 indigenous Yupik\u00a0Eskimos who subsist by hunting and fishing.<\/p>\n

Although the island\u2019s natural environment may appear pristine, residents are exposed to high levels of persistent organic pollutants\u2014toxic chemicals that remain in the environment for many years. Residents are concerned exposure to these pollutants may be responsible for high rates of cancer and other diseases.<\/p>\n

Two professors with Northern Arizona University\u2019s Center for Bioengineering Innovation<\/a> (CBI) and Department of Biological Sciences<\/a>\u2014environmental physiologist Loren Buck<\/strong> and ecotoxicologist Frank von Hippel<\/strong>\u2014are working on a long-term research project studying the link between these chemicals and the health of the island\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

\u201cSt. Lawrence Island is a beautiful, beautiful place,\u201d Buck said. \u201cIt looks incredibly pristine, but the shocking part for me is the realization that there is a lot of toxicity there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project was established in 2001 to investigate the community\u2019s mounting health problems and to determine how to alleviate them. Researchers found elevated levels of organic man-made pollutants in the islanders\u2019 blood samples, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides and flame retardants widely used in industrial and commercial applications.<\/p>\n

Studies also showed the island was being polluted by toxic chemicals at the abandoned military bases there as well as by pollutants transported to the Arctic in the atmosphere. The chemicals accumulate throughout the food web and build up in the body fat of the marine mammals that are a mainstay of the islanders\u2019 traditional diet, including walruses, seals and whales.<\/p>\n

The NIH renewal grant<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The collaborative team, which includes Buck, von Hippel, other researchers and members of the Yupik community, recently received a $3.6 million R01 renewal grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the newest phase of this interdisciplinary project, \u201cProtecting the health of future generations: Assessing and preventing exposures to endocrine-disrupting flame retardant chemicals in two Alaska Native Arctic communities on St. Lawrence Island.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buck and von Hippel are two of the principal investigators on the project. They collaborate with the other PIs, Dr. David Carpenter of the University at Albany and Pam Miller, executive director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics<\/a>, as well as with community leaders from St. Lawrence Island. This phase of the study will focus mainly on the island\u2019s children, who have higher levels of exposure to flame-retardant chemicals than adults and are more vulnerable to them. Community members are concerned the chemicals may pose a neurological risk to the Yupik children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study provides an opportunity to investigate the levels of flame retardants in relation to the health outcomes of Arctic indigenous children for the first time,\u201d Buck said.<\/p>\n

Buck and von Hippel are studying how the contaminants may be disrupting the endocrine system and gene expression of the children by analyzing blood samples and by using locally occurring fish as \u201cmodel organisms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe study gene expression in specific organs in the fish because their biology is very close to that of humans, and their hormone system is virtually identical to the hormone system of people,\u201d von Hippel said. \u201cFurthermore, fish are much easier and less expensive to study than mammals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the fish have thyroid problems, for example, we can then look at humans to see if they\u2019re also showing potential thyroid problems,\u201d Buck said. \u201cThat will help us find potential early biomarkers of disease even before humans are manifesting signs of the disease. We use genetic, physiological, endocrine and other biological markers to detect exposure to these toxicants and the diseases they may be causing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CBI_324\"<\/a>
NAU professors Loren Buck and Frank von Hippel discuss their work in the lab with research associate Danielle Dillon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Community-based participatory research<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This project follows what\u2019s known as a \u201ccommunity-based participatory research\u201d (CBPR) approach, which means it is conducted as an equal partnership between academically trained experts and members of the community and is designed to produce tangible results of benefit to the community.<\/p>\n

In a CBPR project, the community participates in all aspects of the research process, including study objectives and design, sample collection and data interpretation. The results of the research belong to the community, not the researchers, and the community determines how these results are used. This approach is different from the typical research project in which researchers create knowledge solely for the purpose of advancing a field of study.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project is only possible because of the strong community support we have,\u201d von Hippel said.<\/p>\n

In addition to generating scientific findings, a key goal of the project is to empower members of the community with the knowledge and tools they need to address important health disparities. Investigators provide a variety of workshops, webinars, community forums, environmental health fairs and related educational opportunities. The educational efforts are showing positive results\u2014some of the participants have been taking on projects to improve the health of their communities themselves.<\/p>\n

Investigators also have worked to educate the islanders about their findings, enabling the Yupik to represent themselves at hearings held in Juneau, Alaska\u2019s capital; in Washington, D.C.; and at the Stockholm Convention in Switzerland to lobby for phasing out these chemicals.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the scientists hope the results of their research will inform public health interventions and improve health outcomes, enabling early detection and intervention to mitigate future exposure of the island\u2019s children to toxic chemicals.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Buck, von Hippel and their team, who were at that time with the University of Alaska, Anchorage, were interviewed about the project for a New York Times<\/em> article<\/a> and video<\/a> in 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kerry Bennett Office of the Vice President for Research \u00a0St. Lawrence Island, just south of the Bering Strait in Arctic Alaska, is one of the most isolated places on the planet. Wild, mountainous and remote, the island is inhabited by 1,600 indigenous Yupik\u00a0Eskimos who subsist by hunting and fishing. Although the island\u2019s natural environment…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":49086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}