This project links breast cancer and environmental justice advocacy through a variety of approaches conducted by Silent Spring Institute, a community-based breast cancer research organization; Communities for a Better Environment, an environmental justice organization and partners from Brown University. The project will conduct home environmental exposure assessments, collecting air and dust samples to assess indoor levels of pollutants, especially endocrine disruptors that are potentially linked to breast cancer, reproductive and neurological development, and other health outcomes. Data collection, analysis, community education, and organizational linkages will occur in two locations - Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a region of unexplained high breast cancer incidences that has been the focus of prior work of Silent Spring Institute, and a new site in Richmond, California, that is largely composed of people of color and impacted by industrial facilities. Study results will be shared both as aggregate information presented through community meetings, news media, and on-line, and as individual report-back information to study participants. Using both report-back approaches, this study will seek to maximize understanding of exposure data and its limitations, and address the ethical issues of ensuring community and individual autonomy, the right to know, and ultimately the right to act on scientific information by reducing exposures.
Specific aims for this project include: 1) Conduct community-based exposure assessment research, collecting dust and air samples to assess levels and sources of pollutants in homes located in Cape Cod and Richmond; 2) Link breast cancer and environmental justice advocacy through community-based outreach, including public meetings, web sites, and publications; 3) Develop ethical methods for reporting back study results to communities and individual study participants, and produce a handbook for general use in reporting results of community exposure studies; 4) Pilot test an intervention to reduce household pollutant levels.
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