Lab Matters Fall 2017 | Page 17

from the bench

I love biomonitoring. It’ s a wonderful way for the public health lab and epidemiology to work together in tackling real-world problems.”

— Jason Mihalic, Arizona Department of Health Services

“ The consortium is a great way to consolidate resources,” Petty said.“ Ultimately, there’ s so much information these studies can provide in the future.”

To date, Chaudhuri said the consortium has tested more than 900 urine samples and about 500 water samples. Labs work closely with their state colleagues in epidemiology and environmental health— or in Utah and New Mexico, with CDC-funded participants in the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program— in determining where in the states to focus their biomonitoring efforts and what kind of data gaps the consortium can help fill. Chaudhuri added that the consortium leverages its unique work to help particularly vulnerable communities reduce their risk of harmful exposure. For example, because well water often goes unregulated, 4CSBC can help alert residents to potential contaminants, while collecting the data that allow health officials to measure changes in environmental risk.

4CSBC teams regularly share data with each other and evaluate their progress during monthly phone calls and at two face-to-face meetings each year.

“ We couldn’ t have stretched( the CDC biomonitoring funds) across four states if wasn’ t for our collaborations,” Chaudhuri said.“ We get so much in-kind support from our environmental health and tracking partners— who else can better appreciate the need for biomonitoring data?”

On the ground, the biomonitoring collaborative not only hopes to offer new insights, but to boost capacity for more traditional public health responsibilities, such as safeguarding drinking water quality. For example, in New Mexico, about 20 percent of residents depend on drinking water sources— like private wells— that aren’ t regulated by either federal or state oversight. At the same time, said Heidi Krapfl, MS, chief of the New Mexico Department of Health’ s

Environmental Health Epidemiology Bureau, the state’ s geology means private well water drinkers may be at heightened risk of harmful arsenic and uranium exposures. Urine uranium concentrations above a certain threshold are already a notifiable condition in New Mexico.

To better understand that risk, New Mexico’ s 4CSBC team partners closely with the state’ s environmental health tracking program to collect and analyze water samples. To date, according to Barbara Toth, PhD, MS, epidemiologist supervisor at the New Mexico Department of Health, the biomonitoring effort in New Mexico has collected about 150 household water samples for heavy metal testing and just more than 200 urine samples for heavy metal and phthalate testing.

“ Tracking is about exposure and health outcomes,” Toth said,“ and biomonitoring is the method by which we understand that exposure.”

Krapfl added:“ Those three legs of the stool— tracking, biomonitoring and private well water testing— provide a strong foundation for supporting public health actions in the state. You really need all three.”

One of the 4CSBC’ s main projects— the San Luis Valley Children’ s Study— is focused on a specific community in Colorado. According to Petty, the 4CSBC lead in Colorado, the area has a particularly shallow water table and has a history of agricultural use. To get a clearer picture of the risk, 4SCBC is partnering with a researcher from the University of Colorado who conducts the field work and collects samples, while the Colorado public health lab does the testing. To date, Petty said the lab has tested more than 200 urine samples and 100 water samples.

Well water quality is a priority issue in Arizona too, according to Jason Mihalic, chief of the Chemistry Office at the Arizona Department of Health Services and the state’ s principal 4CSBC investigator. Any Arizona resident who uses well water can take part in the biomonitoring effort. But to sweeten the deal— and attract as many participants as possible— the Arizona lab offers a free water analysis for 19 metals using an EPA-approved method. The Arizona 4CSBC effort is also partnering with existing well water programs at the University of Arizona to spread word about the biomonitoring effort.

For many of the compounds included in 4CSBC testing— such as pyrethroid insecticides and phthalates— biomonitoring will produce the first regional baseline data available, Mihalic noted.

And more precise data means public health can be even more effective in protecting communities against potentially harmful exposures.

“ I love biomonitoring,” Mihalic said.“ It’ s a wonderful way for the public health lab and epidemiology to work together in tackling real-world problems.” ■

DIGITAL EXTRA: Read more about the Four Corners States Biomonitoring Consortium.