## EPA scientists develop science and tool s to help communities identify and prioritize environmental health issues

Issue: Community groups want to understand their exposures and risks to environmental pollutant s

. T hey also want to know how to effectiv ely 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 lo cal 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. I nvolvement of communities is equally important where evidence i ndicates disproportionate exposure s 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 informati on. 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. 

### Scie nce 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 asse ssments , 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 priori ties for cleaning up communities and working for environmental justice to protect vulnerable groups of people

.

C

- FERST provide s a framework for collaborative research and information sharing to understand community

- based exposures and risk s

. It will be us ed to assess
exposures to multiple chemical factors and, eventuall y, 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 d ecisions about environmental issues specific to their location that result in be tter

- inform ed 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 he lp prioritize issues for taking action to improve public health

.

C

- FERST has been developed in collaboration with certain projects of theEPA

- coordinated community program called CARE (Community Action for a Renewed Environment). Th e CARE grant and techn ical 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

a nd local officials to refine the tool. In 201 1

, 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/ i dentify e nvironmental i ssues by :

**•** V iew ing guidance, and learn ing about issues other communities have considered

**•** A ccess ing information about environmental, health, social and economic issues

**•** A ccess ing methods for local monitoring

Access f act s heets for e nvironmental i ssues of c oncern including :

**•** EPA and other f ederal fact sheets for over 40 community environmental issues

Visualize exposure/risk via map ping tools that allow users to :

**•** M ap e nvironmental c oncentrations

, h uman e xposures , and h ealth r isks

**•** O verlay pollutant sources **•** O verlay demographic data for identifying vulnerable populations

**•** A dd local data

**•** V iew potential impact of s olutions

Generate e nvironmental i ssue p rofiles with the help of :

**•** F act sheets, web

- links, local exposure estimates, map s, and community solutions available in a consistent report format for each selected issue

Prioritize y our c ommunity’s i ssues by :

**•** V iew ing community data table

**•** A ccess ing examples of risk ranking approaches

Explore p otential s olutions 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.

R eferences: 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 huma n 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 Laborator y (NERL) , 617

- 918

- 1541, zartarian.valerie@epa.gov

.
Brad Schultz, EPA’s ORD, NERL, 919

- 541

- 3881, schultz.brad@epa.gov

.

December , 2010