Transforming EPA Science to Meet Today's and Tomorrow's Challenges (2023) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 74-104
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From page 74... ...
As part of identifying advanced approaches for ORD, Chapter 3 presented a One Environment– One Health framework which includes foresight for the identification of emerging challenges as well as advanced tools and methods that can help address those challenges. The advanced tools and methods can be applied within an integrated approach that considers responses to multiple stressors at biological levels ranging from molecular to individuals, populations, and ecosystems.
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From page 75... ...
Accordingly, cumulative environmental exposures and their effects are poorly understood.
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From page 76... ...
Exposure science instrumentation and analytical approaches are crucial for addressing health impacts associated with climate change. The Concept of the Exposome The concept of the exposome was developed for obtaining a more comprehensive description of exposure and related environmental hazards (see, e.g., Wild, 2012)
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From page 77... ...
Recommendation 5-1: ORD should deploy state-of-the-art instruments including high-resolution mass spectrometers and gas and liquid chromatographs in the real atmosphere to monitor gas-phase and particle-phase oxidation products of organics in urban communities and redlined areas, where environmental justice is an issue. ORD should partner with and leverage measurements that are being funded by other agencies such as NASA, NSF, DOE, and the National Oceanic and Atmos pheric Administration (NOAA)
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From page 78... ...
, in particular with the Human Health Exposure Analysis Resource, which provides analytical capacity for this and other environmental sampling devices.4 As more research is implemented, by ORD and other organizations, the purposes for which passive sampling devices are appropriate will become clearer and it is expected that their use in research will continue to increase. Finding: The development and validation of personal sampling devices that are easily worn during normal activities provide novel opportunities for sampling some airborne pollutants in affected communities.
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From page 79... ...
NASA's TEMPO mission will also provide new capabilities for monitoring transport and air quality impact of wildfire smoke, which is not well measured by current EPA regulatory monitoring networks. EPA has partnered with the U.S.
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From page 80... ...
To obtain time-activity data for exposure and health studies, GPS and location and motion sensors embedded in smartphones and wearables have been used (Chatzidiakou et al., 2022; Duan et al., 2022)
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From page 81... ...
Analysis of Multiple Stressors Water Quality The growth in analytical capability and the standardization of water analytical methods provides a unique opportunity to characterize water contaminants and characteristics both for drinking water and natural water resources. The use of both targeted and untargeted methods can provide unique opportunities for water research, exposure and risk assessment, and policy development.
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From page 82... ...
. SDWIS has been used in research studies including studies of environmental justice and drinking water quality regarding nitrate and arsenic violations across the United States (Foster et al., 2019; Pennino et al., 2020; Schaider et al., 2019)
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From page 83... ...
Similarly, lowcost bioacoustic recorders now allow cost-effective monitoring of biodiversity across a broad range of taxa, helping to track community responses to habitat loss and climate-related shifts in the timing of species' migration and life history events. Because EPA depends on federal and state partners for much of the information on biodiversity and ecosystem function that it uses to assess ecological risks and ecosystem services, technological advances in biomonitoring indirectly benefit EPA by improving the quality and quantity of information provided by those partners.
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From page 84... ...
. Finding: The advent of satellite-born imaging spectrometers with high spatial and temporal resolution will enable monitoring of a wide array of One Environment–One Health issues, such as public ecosystem health indicators, landscape and water quality linkages, watershed stressors, and biodiversity of relevance to several EPA program goals.
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From page 85... ...
Biomarker data have been compiled in EPA's Exposome Explorer13 within the CompTox Program, summarizing health outcome information on pollutants and diet. These data can be used to determine results from chemical and biological exposures; however, drawing a link between societal factors and biomarkers is complex and requires additional expertise in the areas of environmental justice and cumulative impacts (see Chapter 3)
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From page 86... ...
In this era of big data, EPA has the opportunity to gain insights into air and water quality, chemical exposures and hazards, and cumulative risk in ways not previously possible. Recommendation 5-8: ORD should play a major role in developing integrated databases with collaborating organizations, such as the U.S.
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From page 87... ...
A One Environment–One Health approach would provide a framework for an integrated consideration at a molecular level to understand the engineered genes and resulting phenotypic characteristics of the host organisms and at higher levels to carry out ecological and human health risk assessments of possible hazardous outcomes. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
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From page 88... ...
and considering alternative risk mitigation approaches. A community-driven method, such as participatory research, is critical for collecting data outside the reach of current investigatory systems and methods and is critical for better understanding of environmental justice and cumulative risk, with the recognition that community input and engagement are essential for both investigation and mitigation strategies.
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From page 89... ...
. Through its involvement in participatory science EPA has developed collaborations with communities addressing environmental justice concerns and initiatives with states and tribal sovereign tribal nations.
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From page 90... ...
Such efforts could include experiential training of ORD scientists so that they learn through each other's experiences in how to engage with communities in the conduct of research and participation in data collection on exposures and health effects. While other communities in the United States do not have sovereignty, ORD should consider applying some of the principles developed by Indigenous communities in participatory research to other communities.
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From page 91... ...
. The health impacts of ambient fine particles generally exceed those from ozone.
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From page 92... ...
. The large amount of mechanistically ex plainable data available enables researchers to create computational models that incorporate adverse outcome pathway concepts (Ankley et al., 2010)
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From page 93... ...
, and changes in built and natural ecosystems, as well as the disproportionate impacts of those stressors across socioeconomically disparate communities with additional concerns related to environmental justice and human perceptions. Model Maturity and Limitations Despite the tremendous progress made in developing computational models, traditional experiments are needed to assess the validity of individual models and allow for modifications to be made in an iterative fashion, whereby the modeling informs the types of experiments that need to be done, and the experimental data are used to refine the models (see Appendix F)
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From page 94... ...
Novel algorithms and tools could be developed for rapid predictions of the complex interactions between human systems and natural systems, and for assessing the compound climate–pandemic health risks, including among low socioeconomic status communities. Recommendation 5-11: To improve modeling of the complex interactions across human and nat ural systems and across different spatial and temporal scales, ORD should utilize recent advances in causal approaches and machine learning models, and leverage the machine learning capabilities of existing supercomputing facilities at government agencies, universities, and other organizations.
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From page 95... ...
2010. Adverse outcome pathways: A conceptual framework to support ecotoxicology research and risk assessment.
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From page 96... ...
2015. Remote sensing of ecosystem services: A systematic review.
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From page 97... ...
Environmental Health Perspectives 118(4)
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2021. Exploring the use of PlanetScope data for particulate matter air quality research.
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rice and total water intakes. Environmental Health Perspectives 125(5)
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Environmental Health Perspectives 128(12)
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2019. Environmental justice and drinking water quality: Are there socioeconomic disparities in nitrate levels in U.S.
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Environmental Science & Technology 47(15)
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2017. How adverse outcome pathways can aid the development and use of computational prediction models for regulatory toxicology.
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From page 104... ...
assessing interconnected human health and ecological risks; (2) characterizing environmental justice and cumulative risk; and (3)
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