metals

Since early 2021, our community partners have been concerned about proposed changes to the plan for the cleanup of the Duwamish River that was finalized in 2014 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in their Record of Decision (ROD). As our partners work to understand the implications of the proposed changes, the UW SRP Community Engagement and Research Translation Cores have been providing technical support to help interpret the science underlying the proposed actions.

Paraoxonase 2 (PON2) could play an important role in reducing the health impacts of toxicants. For this reason, the antioxidant enzyme has interested toxicologists for decades, yet its function in the body still remains mostly mysterious.

The UW Superfund Research Program was honored to be invited to speak to students at Seattle's new Maritime High School, which opened in September. This high school is anchored in the Duwamish Valley and has a focus on serving underrepresented students in the Highline School District and surrounding areas. The Maritime High School focuses on research-driven education and is committed to equitable access for all students.

This year marked the 15th anniversary of the Duwamish River Festival, an outdoor event organized by the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition (DRCC) to bring together communities in South Park and Georgetown to celebrate the cleanup of the Lower Duwamish Waterway and the revitalization of its adjacent communities.

Lead is famously toxic, especially for children. No amount of lead exposure is safe. It can damage almost every organ and system in the body; it lowers IQ; and it's strongly associated with learning and behavior problems. Many of lead's effects can be irreversible. For all these reasons, reducing exposure to lead, particularly during early childhood, is of enormous public health significance. To this end, public health agencies have an important role to play in designing and implementing effective policies and programs.

When you find that some lake fish have levels of arsenic high enough to pose a hazard to human health you wonder about the arsenic in other fish.

This summer, the UW SRP traveled to Kellogg, Idaho to visit with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and community partners at the Bunker Hill Superfund Site. Community Engagement Manager BJ Cummings was accompanied by toxicologist Dr. Steve Gilbert from the UW Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, and UW Communications Leadership Program intern Sukai Gaye. The team toured the epicenter of the Superfund site and several repositories along the Coeur d’Alene River where wastes from the site are stored.

Cadmium's adverse effects on the kidney, bones and respiratory system are well-documented, as is its status as a carcinogen. However, newer evidence is emerging that cadmium also has significant neurotoxicological effects at low doses.

A new paper by researchers on the University of Washington Superfund Research Program Project 3 describes in detail an improved protocol for characterizing some of the features of Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) that help it provide protection from exposure to certain contaminants and affect susceptibility to disease. Unlike the previously existing protocol, the one reported does not depend on highly toxic substrates and can be carried out in any lab.

When UW SRP researchers found new evidence that environmental contamination from a former smelter may pose a threat to human health, they were careful to inform their agency partners in advance of publication. This advance notice allowed them a chance to coordinate the necessary risk communication before engaging with potentially affected populations.