IMPORTANCE Black and Latinx communities have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, yet little work has sought to understand their perspectives.OBJECTIVE To explore the experiences of Black and Latinx communities during the pandemic to better understand their perspectives on COVID-19 mitigation behaviors (eg, mask wearing), testing, and vaccines. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSIn this community-engaged qualitative study conducted with 18 community-based organizations and 4 health care organizations between November 19, 2020, and February 5, 2021, in New Jersey counties severely affected by the pandemic, group and individual interviews were used to purposively sample 111 Black and Latinx individuals. A total of 13 group interviews were organized by race/ethnicity and language: 4 English-speaking groups with Black participants (n = 34), 3 Spanish-speaking groups with Latinx participants (n = 24), and 4 English-speaking groups with Black and Latinx participants (n = 36). To understand the views of health care workers from these communities, 2 additional groups (n = 9) were convened and supplemented with individual interviews. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Description of Black and Latinx participants' experiencesduring the COVID-19 pandemic and their perspectives on mitigation behaviors, testing, and vaccines. RESULTSThe study included 111 participants (87 women [78.4%]; median age, 43 years [range, 18-93 years]). Participants described the devastating effects of the pandemic on themselves, loved ones, and their community. Their experiences were marked by fear, illness, loss, and separation. These experiences motivated intense information seeking, mitigation behaviors, and testing. Nevertheless, vaccine skepticism was high across all groups. Participants did not trust the vaccine development process and wanted clearer information. Black participants expressed that they did not want to be subjects of experiments. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEThe remaining unknowns about new vaccines need to be acknowledged and described for Black and Latinx communities to make informed decisions.Ultimately, scientists and public officials need to work transparently to address unanswered questions and work collaboratively with trusted community leaders and health professionals to foster partnered approaches, rather than focusing on marketing campaigns, to eliminate vaccine skepticism.

The large disparity between arsenic concentrations in drinking water and urine remains unexplained. This study aims to evaluate predictors of urinary arsenic in a population exposed to low concentrations (r50 mg/l) of arsenic in drinking water. Urine and drinking water samples were collected from a subsample (n ¼ 343) of a population enrolled in a bladder cancer case-control study in southeastern Michigan. Total arsenic in water and arsenic species in urine were determined using ICP-MS: arsenobetaine (AsB), arsenite ( A separate analysis indicated that AsB and DMA [V] were significantly correlated with fish and shellfish consumption, which may suggest that seafood intake influences DMA[V] excretion. The Spearman correlation between arsenic concentration in toenails and SumAs was 0.36 and between arsenic concentration in toenails and arsenic concentration in water was 0.42. Results show that arsenic exposure from drinking water consumption is an important determinant of urinary arsenic concentrations, even in a population exposed to relatively low levels of arsenic in drinking water, and suggest that seafood intake may influence urinary DMA [V] concentrations.

Background:Epidemiological studies suggest that women exposed to disinfection by-products (DBPs) have an increased risk of delivering babies with cardiovascular defects (CVDs).Objective:We examined nine CVDs in relation to categorical DBP exposures including bromoform, chloroform, dibromochloromethane (DBCM), bromodichloromethane (BDCM), monobromoacetic acid (MBAA), dichloroacetic acid (DCAA), trichloroacetic acid (TCAA), and summary DBP measures (HAA5, THMBr, THM4, and DBP9).Methods:We calculated adjusted odds ratios (aORs) in a case–control study of birth defects in Massachusetts with complete quarterly 1999–2004 trihalomethane (THM) and haloacetic acid (HAA) data. We randomly matched 10 controls each to 904 CVD cases based on week of conception. Weight-averaged aggregate first-trimester DBP exposures were assigned to individuals based on residence at birth.Results:We detected associations for tetralogy of Fallot and the upper exposure categories for TCAA, DCAA, and HAA5 (aOR range, 3.34–6.51) including positive exposure–response relationships for DCAA and HAA5. aORs consistent in magnitude were detected between atrial septal defects and bromoform (aOR = 1.56; 95% CI: 1.01, 2.43), as well as DBCM, chloroform, and THM4 (aOR range, 1.26–1.67). Ventricular septal defects (VSDs) were associated with the highest bromoform (aOR = 1.85; 95% CI: 1.20, 2.83), MBAA (aOR = 1.81; 95% CI: 0.85, 3.84), and DBCM (aOR = 1.54; 95% CI: 1.00, 2.37) exposure categories.Conclusions:To our knowledge, this is the first birth defect study to develop multi-DBP adjusted regression models as well as the first CVD study to evaluate HAA exposures and the second to evaluate bromoform exposures. Our findings, therefore, inform exposure specificity for the consistent associations previously reported between THM4 and CVDs including VSDs.Citation:Wright JM, Evans A, Kaufman JA, Rivera-Núñez Z, Narotsky MG. 2017. Disinfection by-product exposures and the risk of specific cardiac birth defects. Environ Health Perspect 125:269–277; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP103

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