Study of Diets and Way of Life of Native Americans and Hispanics in New Mexico During the Time of the Trinity Nuclear Test
Condition: Lifestyle; Diet; Ionizing Radiation Exposure
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      Background:

      - The National Cancer Institute has been studying health risks to people in New Mexico at the
      time of the first nuclear bomb test. This was called the Trinity nuclear test. It took place
      in 1945. Researchers want to also learn about Native Americans and Hispanics at that time.
      They want to learn about their way of life and their diets. This will give a more complete
      picture of the health risks to people in New Mexico in 1945.

      Objectives:

        -  To learn about the activities and eating habits of Hispanic and tribal communities
           during the 1940s.

        -  To see if a group of Hispanic and Native Americans who were living in New Mexico in 1945
           can be gathered.

      Eligibility:

      - Native American or Hispanic adults who were alive in 1945. They must know firsthand about
      the lifestyle and diet in New Mexico at that time.

      Design:

        -  Participants will have 1 visit. They will be interviewed at a place like a library or
           office. They will answer questions about their lifestyle and diet around 1945. This will
           take up 60 90 minutes.

        -  Participants may agree to have their interviews taped. Their names will not be kept with
           their answers from the interviews.
    

Detailed description: 
      The evaluation of health risks among the public as a consequence of exposure to radioactive
      fallout from nuclear testing has been an important area of research for many years by
      investigators in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB). As a result of the reputation of
      this group in the field of dose and risk assessment related to radioactive fallout, and the
      expertise of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in cancer research, in 2007, U.S. Senator
      Jeff Bingaman (D, NM) sent a request to the NCI to evaluate the health risks to New Mexico
      residents from the first nuclear bomb test (named Trinity) that was conducted in 1945 in
      south-central New Mexico. The NCI responded in early 2008 with a preliminary evaluation of
      the radiation doses received by the residents of New Mexico. However, the evaluation made no
      special provisions for lifestyles and diets of tribal community members or Hispanics\Latinos
      which were a significant part of the population. Little is known about Native American and
      Hispanic\Latino lifestyles and diets in the mid-twentieth century, yet such data are
      necessary to produce a credible assessment of health risks to the state s population. For
      this reason, REB investigators did not publish the initial dose assessment in the
      peer-reviewed literature. Additionally, since statewide health records cannot be
      reconstructed in a meaningful way to determine excess disease rates, estimation of health
      risks in this population can only be projected (i.e., estimated) based on the magnitude and
      distribution of radiation doses received and the relationships between radiation dose and
      cancer risks observed in other populations. Since the preparation of the 2008 report, the REB
      exposure assessment models used to assess doses from radioactive fallout from other nuclear
      test sites have been improved and published in the peer-reviewed literature. The required
      improvements in the 2008 Trinity assessment that would support publication of the projected
      health risks includes sex- and age-dependent diet and lifestyle models for Native Americans
      and Hispanics\Latinos in New Mexico in the mid-1940s. We are proposing a pilot study to
      collect, via individual interviews, information on lifestyle and diet from up to 9 key
      informants of Native Americans and Hispanics\Latinos living in New Mexico who were alive at
      the time of the bomb (currently greater than or equal to 69 years old). This data will inform
      the design of a larger study, which will collect lifestyle and diet information from a series
      of targeted focus groups. The information acquired from these 9 individual interviews will be
      used to 1) determine the feasibility of assembling focus groups of members of tribal and
      Hispanic\Latino communities in New Mexico who were alive in 1945 at the time of the bomb and
      2) provide lifestyle and diet information to be used for refining focus group interviewing
      tools.
    

Observational model: Ecologic or Community
Time perspective: Retrospective
Keywords: Tribal Communities; Radiation; Cancer