&ERA
science BRIEF
EPA scientists develop science and tools to help communities identify and
prioritize environmental health issues
Issue:
Community groups want to understand their
exposures and risks to environmental
pollutants. They also want to know how to
effectively reduce exposures to pollutants
with the highest risks. If relevant science-
based tools are not readily available,
decisions may be based solely on the
perception of exposures and risk. EPA
scientists are developing tools to improve
community access to scientific information.
Community involvement is crucial in
defining and prioritizing environmental
health issues for specific areas or groups of
people. Community groups and members
can supply local knowledge and interpret
results in the context of local decision-
making. Because of this, communities are
playing an increasingly central role in
defining environmental problems and
identifying the information needed to address
these problems. Involvement of communities
is equally important where evidence indicates
disproportionate exposures or risks are
caused by localized contaminants or other
environmental conditions.
To support communities with this process,
user-friendly tools are needed that provide
environmental exposure and health-related
information. To ensure these tools are
scientifically sound, research is necessary to
advance the science to take into account the
many factors that may impact human
exposure and health risks within a
community — including chemical and non-
chemical factors.
Science Objective:
EPA is developing the Community-Focused
Exposure and Risk Screening Tool
(C-FERST) — a GIS & resource access Web
tool to support cumulative human exposure
and risk screening assessments, and help
build sustainable, healthy communities. It is
designed to assist communities with the
challenge of identifying and prioritizing
issues, and making decisions about exposures
and risks within their community. C-FERST
supports EPA's priorities for cleaning up
communities and working for environmental
justice to protect vulnerable groups of people.
C-FERST provides a framework for
collaborative research and information
sharing to understand community-based
exposures and risks. It will be used to assess
exposures to multiple chemical factors and,
eventually, will incorporate non-chemical
factors. Ultimately, it is anticipated that the
improved science and user-friendly tool will
empower environmental managers and
community residents to make decisions about
environmental issues specific to their location
that result in better-informed decisions.
Application and Impact:
C-FERST will link to and build upon other
community-focused tools to help identify
human exposures within a community and
help prioritize issues for taking action to
improve public health.
C-FERST has been developed in
collaboration with certain projects of the
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EPA-coordinated community program called
CARE (Community Action for a Renewed
Environment). The CARE grant and
technical assistance program
(www.epa.gov/care) offers an innovative way
for communities to reduce pollution in their
local environment.
During C-FERST's development, EPA
scientists will listen to community residents
and local officials to refine the tool. In 2011,
EPA scientists will work with several CARE
communities to test and refine the tool. C-
FERST ultimately will offer information for
the general public. Future users could include
community members and leaders, as well as
federal, state, or local agencies working with
community partners.
Eventually, C-FERST users will be able to
view maps and community reports for
environmental issues such as air toxics, diesel
exhaust, lead, environmental tobacco smoke,
water pollution, fish consumption, residential
pesticides. Users will also be able to view
cumulative risk estimates for lung cancer,
asthma, and early neurotoxicity effects. As
the tool is refined and populated with
available information, users will be able to:
Consider/identify environmental issues by:
• Viewing guidance, and learning about
issues other communities have
considered
• Accessing information about
environmental, health, social and
economic issues
• Accessing methods for local
monitoring
Access fact sheets for environmental issues
of concern including:
• EPA and other federal fact sheets for
over 40 community environmental
issues
Visualize exposure/risk via mapping tools
that allow users to:
• Map environmental concentrations,
human exposures, and health risks
• Overlay pollutant sources
• Overlay demographic data for
identifying vulnerable populations
• Add local data
• View potential impact of solutions
Generate environmental issue profiles with
the help of:
• Fact sheets, web-links, local exposure
estimates, maps, and community
solutions available in a consistent
report format for each selected issue
Prioritize your community's issues by:
• Viewing community data table
• Accessing examples of risk ranking
approaches
Explore potential solutions including:
• Links to fact sheets on exposure/risk
reduction actions
• Information on promising practices
for sustainable community solutions
Link to other community-relevant tools
including:
• A searchable compendium of
community-relevant tools, and Web
links to other tools.
References:
Zartarian et al., 2010. The EPA's
Community-Focused Exposure and Risk
Screening Tool (C-FERST) and Its Potential
Use for Environmental Justice Efforts.
American Journal of Public Health, accepted.
Zartarian, V., Schultz, B. 2009. The EPA's
human exposure research program for
assessing cumulative risk in communities.
Journal of Exposure Science and
Environmental Epidemiology.
Contact:
Valerie Zartarian, Ph.D., EPA's Office of
Research and Development (ORD), National
Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL), 617 -
918-1541. zartarian.valerie@epa.gov.
Brad Schultz, EPA's ORD, NERL, 919-541-
3881, schultz.brad@epa.gov.
December, 2010
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