One map: Using geospatial analysis to understand lead exposure across humans, animals, and the environment in an urban US city

Kalani, Tatyana J.; South, Adam; Talmadge, Carolyn; Leibler, Jessica H.; Whittier, Chris; Rosenbaum, Marieke

doi:10.1016/j.onehlt.2021.100341

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…We lack comprehensive data on where lead is in the environment. That is, we lack data on the 'life cycle' of lead once it enters the environment: where it goes, how it moves through the environment, the various pathways of human exposure, and how these things have changed across geographic space and through time (i.e., its 'history'), particularly in relation to land-use change, biodiversity loss, and policy (Tovar-Sánchez et al 2018, Kalani et al 2021, Levin et al 2021. As in Flint, lead exposure is often attributed to drinking water, but the movement and cycle of lead through our environments is much more complex and can happen in tandem with other pollutants (e.g., mercury) that are also of significant public health concern.…”

Section: Problem and Its Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring historical pollution: natural history collections as tools for public health and environmental justice research

DuBay¹,

Weeks²,

Davis‐Kean³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Background: Through the industrial era, environmental pollution has been unevenly distributed in the environment, disproportionately impacting disenfranchised communities. The distribution of pollution is thus a question of environmental justice and public health that requires policy solutions. However, we lack robust quantitative data on pollutants for many locations and time periods because environmental monitoring is largely reactive—i.e., pollutants are monitored only after they are recognized as harmful and circulating in the environment at elevated levels. Without comprehensive historical pollution data, it is difficult to understand the full, intergenerational determinants and consequences of pollutants on environmental and human health. Here, we promote the use of biological specimens in natural history collections as an underutilized source of quantitative pollution data for tracking environmental change over nearly two centuries and for informing justice-centered policy solutions. Objectives:First, we discuss the need for quantitative pollution data in environmental research and its implications for public health and policy. We then examine the capacity of biological specimens to serve as tools for tracking environmental pollutants through space and time. We then present a framework for how pollution datasets from specimens can be paired with spatially and temporally matched human health datasets to inform and evaluate public policy. Finally, we identify challenges and research directions associated with the use of quantitative pollution datasets.Discussion:Biological specimens present a unique opportunity to fill critical gaps in the environmental record—and to generate historical data for emerging pollutants—to engage public health and policy questions that we have previously lacked data to address. This work demands diverse expertise and partnerships across the sciences, and between researchers and communities affected by pollution, to connect data generated from specimens with urgent questions about environmental health and justice, and to find solutions to some of the most pressing environmental challenges of the twenty-first century.

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Section: Problem and Its Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring historical pollution: natural history collections as tools for public health and environmental justice research

DuBay¹,

Weeks²,

Davis‐Kean³

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Different variables have been considered to affect Lyme disease distribution. These include ecological variables related to blacklegged ticks [tick density, dispersion (33-35)] and their small mammal reservoir and migratory avian hosts (36, 37), as well as environmental variables such as temperature, humidity, and forest fragmentation (20,38,39). Recent risk map publications have adopted "One Health" approaches, which incorporate sociological, ecological, and biological knowledge into their research (40,41).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risky business: human-related data is lacking from Lyme disease risk models

Fellin,

Varin,

Millien

2023

Front. Public Health

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Used as a communicative tool for risk management, risk maps provide a service to the public, conveying information that can raise risk awareness and encourage mitigation. Several studies have utilized risk maps to determine risks associated with the distribution of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causal agent of Lyme disease in North America and Europe, as this zoonotic disease can lead to severe symptoms. This literature review focused on the use of risk maps to model distributions of B. burgdorferi and its vector, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis), in North America to compare variables used to predict these spatial models. Data were compiled from the existing literature to determine which ecological, environmental, and anthropic (i.e., human focused) variables past research has considered influential to the risk level for Lyme disease. The frequency of these variables was examined and analyzed via a non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis to compare different map elements that may categorize the risk models performed. Environmental variables were found to be the most frequently used in risk spatial models, particularly temperature. It was found that there was a significantly dissimilar distribution of variables used within map elements across studies: Map Type, Map Distributions, and Map Scale. Within these map elements, few anthropic variables were considered, particularly in studies that modeled future risk, despite the objective of these models directly or indirectly focusing on public health intervention. Without including human-related factors considering these variables within risk map models, it is difficult to determine how reliable these risk maps truly are. Future researchers may be persuaded to improve disease risk models by taking this into consideration.

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Domestic dogs as sentinels of children lead exposure: Multi-pathway identification and source apportionment based on isotope technique

et al. 2023

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One map: Using geospatial analysis to understand lead exposure across humans, animals, and the environment in an urban US city

Cited by 5 publications

References 31 publications

Measuring historical pollution: natural history collections as tools for public health and environmental justice research

Measuring historical pollution: natural history collections as tools for public health and environmental justice research

Risky business: human-related data is lacking from Lyme disease risk models

Domestic dogs as sentinels of children lead exposure: Multi-pathway identification and source apportionment based on isotope technique

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