Community-Based Research

 

Based on their experience and collaborative work, communities use toxic chemical exposure data to make changes in local and state policies, and to promote good neighbor agreements with local industries.

 

“When Pollution Gets Personal, Handbook for reporting  results to participants in biomonitoring and personal exposure studies” 

Author List: Sarah Dunagan, Julia Brody, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Phil Brown, Shaun Goho, Jessica Tovar, Sharyle Patton, Rachel Danford. Copyright 2013 Silent Spring Institute

This handbook describes the reasons for reporting individual biomonitoring results to study participants and the methods to do so effectively and ethically.

 

Monitoring Mother Earth by Monitoring Mothers’ Milk

In collaboration with the International Pollution Elimination Network, CBRC tested mother’s milk from women in five countries for levels of POPS chemicals. Women were selected who had been breastfeeding for two months and who were strongly supported by their communities and families in breastfeeding. Results conveyance materials emphasized that mother’s milk is the best food for babies and that the integrity of mother’s milk needs to be maintained by toxic chemical regulation at the international level.

When the Wind Blows

This methods development project explored ways for testing human urine, air, and water for levels of chemicals typically found near oil and gas production sites. The project was done in collaboration with the Coming Clean Collaborative.

Is It in Us

This biomonitoring project tested individuals in seven states for levels of toxic chemicals and issued a report in collaboration with the Coming Clean Collaborative to raise public awareness about chemical body burdens.

Mind Disrupted 

This project tested leaders from children’s environmental health organizations for levels of chemicals considered to be neurotoxicants. The report was used to inform members of Congress about the urgent need to regulate chemicals known to harm children’s neurological development. 

Rosa and Carlos Get Marrie English version, Spanish version

Rosa and Carlos Get Marrie
English version, Spanish version

 

Rosa and Carlos Get Married

CBRC worked with the California-based Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment and the Communication and Outreach and Translation Core to produce materials for Latino communities illustrating methods to prevent childhood diseases, focusing specifically on childhood leukemia, which occurs at elevated levels in Latino communities in California. The video, Love in the Time of Toxicants, was created for this project as well as the 16-page graphic novel, Rosa and Carlos Get Married.

Direct Measurement of Perchlorate Exposure Biomarkers in a Highly Exposed Population

English P, Blount B, Wong M, Copan L, Olmedo L, Patton S, et al. (2011) Direct Measurement of Perchlorate Exposure Biomarkers in a Highly Exposed Population: A Pilot Study. PLoS ONE 6(3): e17015. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017015

Organic Diet Intervention Study - Pesticides

Carly Hyland, Asa Bradman, Roy Gerona, Sharyle Patton, Igor Zakharevich, Robert B. Gunier, Kendra Klein, Organic diet intervention significantly reduces urinary pesticide levels in U.S. children and adults, Environmental Research, Volume 171,2019, Pages 568-575, ISSN 0013-9351,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2019.01.024.

We analyzed urine samples from four racially and geographically diverse families in the United States for five days on a completely non-organic diet and for five days on a completely organic diet

An organic diet was associated with significant reductions in urinary excretion of several pesticide metabolites and parent compounds, representing OP, neonicotinoid, and pyrethroid insecticides and the herbicide 2,4-D. This study adds to a growing body of literature indicating that an organic diet may reduce exposure to a range of pesticides in children and adults.

Organic Diet Intervention Study - Glyphosate

John Fagan, Larry Bohlen, Sharyle Patton, Kendra Klein, Organic diet intervention significantly reduces urinary glyphosate levels in U.S. children and adults, Environmental Research, Volume 189,2020,109898,ISSN0013-9351, doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109898.

sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935120307933

We analyzed urine samples from four racially and geographically diverse families in the United States for five days on a completely non-organic diet and for five days on a completely organic diet An organic diet was associated with significantly reduced urinary levels of glyphosate and AMPA. The reduction in glyphosate and AMPA levels was rapid, dropping to baseline within three days. This study demonstrates that diet is a primary source of glyphosate exposure and that shifting to an organic diet is an effective way to reduce body burden of glyphosate and its main metabolite, AMPA.

 

Organic for All

CBRC collaborated with Friends of the Earth, U.S, and their team of scientists in a diet intervention study that analyzed urine samples from four racially and geographically diverse families in the United States for five days on a completely non-organic diet and for five days on a completely organic diet. “Organic for All” describes the study’s goals and methods, and presents the study results for those interested in establishing a healthy diet for themselves and their families.

Chlorpyrifos Study

Measuring chlorpyrifos in air and in human body burden in the California Central Valley. CBRC collaborated with Pesticide Action Network, North America and El Quinto Sol in Central California to measure levels of chlorpyrifos in air and in urine samples of local residents during the pesticide spraying season. The community distributed study participants’ concerns about their results to county decision makers, requesting them to establish effective buffer zones between homes, schools and medical centers and areas where agricultural pesticides are in use. PAN Bio Drift Project

 

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