Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Nov;99 Suppl 3(Suppl 3):S600-9.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.149088.

Linking exposure assessment science with policy objectives for environmental justice and breast cancer advocacy: the northern California household exposure study

Julia Green Brody  1 , Rachel Morello-Frosch, Ami Zota, Phil Brown, Carla Pérez, Ruthann A Rudel
Affiliations

Linking exposure assessment science with policy objectives for environmental justice and breast cancer advocacy: the northern California household exposure study

Julia Green Brody et al. Am J Public Health. 2009 Nov.

Abstract

Objectives: We compared an urban fence-line community (neighboring an oil refinery) and a nonindustrial community in an exposure study focusing on pollutants of interest with respect to breast cancer and environmental justice.

Methods: We analyzed indoor and outdoor air from 40 homes in industrial Richmond, California, and 10 in rural Bolinas, California, for 153 compounds, including particulates and endocrine disruptors.

Results: Eighty compounds were detected outdoors in Richmond and 60 in Bolinas; Richmond concentrations were generally higher. Richmond's vanadium and nickel levels indicated effects of heavy oil combustion from oil refining and shipping; these levels were among the state's highest. In nearly half of Richmond homes, PM(2.5) exceeded California's annual ambient air quality standard. Paired outdoor-indoor measurements were significantly correlated for industry- and traffic-related PM(2.5), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, elemental carbon, metals, and sulfates (r = 0.54-0.92, P < .001).

Conclusions: Indoor air quality is an important indicator of the cumulative impact of outdoor emissions in fence-line communities. Policies based on outdoor monitoring alone add to environmental injustice concerns in communities that host polluters. Community-based participatory exposure research can contribute to science and stimulate and inform action on the part of community residents and policymakers.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in homes in Richmond and Bolinas, CA: 2006. Note. Solid lines are medians; boxes are interquartile ranges; vertical lines are 5th and 95th percentiles; circles are extreme data points below the 5th percentile and above the 95th percentile; and horizontal dotted lines represent annual federal and state ambient air quality standards for PM2.5.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Relationships between (a) sulfates, (b) indoor and outdoor concentrations of sulfates, (c) di-n-butyl phthalate, and (d) indoor and outdoor concentrations in di-n-butyl phthalate: Richmond and Bolinas, CA, 2006. Note. Panels a and c are box plots comparing distributions for sulfates and di-n-butyl phthalate, respectively. Panels b and d show the correlations between indoor and outdoor concentrations across both communities. The dotted line represents 1:1.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Comparison of study site outdoor air pollution levels in Richmond and Bolinas, CA, with California state monitors, 2006. Note. Monitor locations are ranked according to the 95th percentile concentration in order of highest to lowest from left to right. Solid lines are medians; boxes are interquartile ranges; and vertical lines are 5th and 95th percentiles.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Duncan DE. The pollution within. National Geographic. Available at: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/10/table-of-contents. Accessed July 3, 2009
    1. Brown P. Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the Environmental Health Movement. New York, NY: Columbia University Press; 2007
    1. Mayne L, Glascoff M. Service learning: preparing a healthcare workforce for the next century. Nurse Educ. 2002;27:191–194 - PubMed
    1. Klawiter M. Racing for the cure, walking women, and toxic touring: mapping cultures of action within the Bay Area terrain of breast cancer. Soc Probl. 1999;46:104–126
    1. California Breast Cancer Research Program Identifying gaps in breast cancer research: addressing disparities and the roles of the physical and social environment. Available at: http://www.cbcrp.org/sri/reports/identifyingGaps/SRI_FRONTMATTER.pdf. Accessed July 3, 2009

Publication types