A Screening Method for Assessing Cumulative Impacts

Abstract

The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) Environmental Justice Action Plan calls for guidelines for evaluating “cumulative impacts.” As a first step toward such guidelines, a screening methodology for assessing cumulative impacts in communities was developed. The method, presented here, is based on the working definition of cumulative impacts adopted by Cal/EPA [1]: “Cumulative impacts means exposures, public health or environmental effects from the combined emissions and discharges in a geographic area, including environmental pollution from all sources, whether single or multi-media, routinely, accidentally, or otherwise released. Impacts will take into account sensitive populations and socio-economic factors, where applicable and to the extent data are available.” The screening methodology is built on this definition as well as current scientific understanding of environmental pollution and its adverse impacts on health, including the influence of both intrinsic, biological factors and non-intrinsic socioeconomic factors in mediating the effects of pollutant exposures. It addresses disparities in the distribution of pollution and health outcomes. The methodology provides a science-based tool to screen places for relative cumulative impacts, incorporating both the pollution burden on a community- including exposures to pollutants, their public health and environmental effects- and community characteristics, specifically sensitivity and socioeconomic factors. The screening methodology provides relative rankings to distinguish more highly impacted communities from less impacted ones. It may also help identify which factors are the greatest contributors to a community’s cumulative impact. It is not designed to provide quantitative estimates of community-level health impacts. A pilot screening analysis is presented here to illustrate the application of this methodology. Once guidelines are adopted, the methodology can serve as a screening tool to help Cal/EPA programs prioritize their activities and target those communities with the greatest cumulative impacts.

Cumulative Health Risk Assessment: Finding New Ideas and Escaping from the Old Ones

“…"The Cal/EPA methodology is designed as a screening tool (Table 3) to help agency programs prioritize their activities and target those communities with the greatest cumulative impacts" (Cal/EPA 2010, p. ix;Alexeeff et al 2012). Cal/EPA (2010) explicitly states that "Until guidelines are developed, the scientific screening methodology is not to be used for regulatory purposes" (p. iii).…”

“…However, there have been comparatively few CRAs that attempt to incorporate nonchemical stressors, such as psychosocial factors (e.g ., discrimination, poverty), physical agents (e.g ., heat, noise) or biological stressors (e.g ., pathogens) into the formal analysis process (Callahan and Sexton 2007;NRC 2009;Sexton 2012). Efforts are currently underway to develop methods for integrating analysis of psychological, social and economic factors-such as low income, deficient education, unemployment, inadequate housing, high-crime neighborhoods, substandard diet, and lack of access to health care-into CRAs (deFur et al 2007;Menzie et al 2007;Ryan et al 2007;NJDEP 2009;CalEPA 2010;NEJAC 2010;Lewis et al 2011;Zartarian et al 2011;Linder and Sexton 2011;Sexton and Linder 2011;Alexeeff et al 2012). The objective of this Perspective is to describe the inherent challenges of putting CRA principles into practice, with particular emphasis on effects-based approaches.…”

Síntomas respiratorios asociados a la exposición a contaminación del aire en cinco localidades de Bogotá, D.C., 2008-2011. Una cohorte dinámica

“…Otra de las limitaciones del estudio fue la subjetividad de los criterios utilizados para evaluar la exposición, por lo que en estudios posteriores se deberían incorporar metodologías de evaluación acumulada del riesgo o de vigilancia continua de los niveles de material en partículas (PM 10 y PM 2,5 ) intramuros y extramuros durante todo el periodo de seguimiento (32). De igual manera, la vigilancia de la exposición personal podría brindar una información más exacta sobre la relación dosis-respuesta.…”

Multi-factorial influences on sex ratio: a spatio-temporal investigation of endocrine disruptor pollution and neighborhood stress

“…In common with both hypotheses, however, the mediation of chronic long-term exposure of pollution, potentially over generations, and including mixing of low doses of chemicals, requires additional scientific research. Further, the inclusion of secondary sex ratio monitoring with new methods of environmental assessment, on cumulative impacts from pollution, is also worthy of consideration 65,66. It is noteworthy that in the context of long standing proliferation of industrial pollution in the Central Region, the Lanarkshire and Forth Valley health regions display the highest crude rates (9.9 and 8.8) of cancer of the testis (per 100 000 person-years at risk) in Scotland for the 2004–2008 period.…”