Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation II

ATTACHMENT H.

Selected Studies in Human and Ecological Risk

EVALUATION OF ECOLOGICAL HEALTH AND RISK

            The analysis and assessment of ecological health and risk at DOE sites is integral to management, clean-up, and restoration of facilities and associated ecosystems.  In addition to work done to understand public preferences for ecological resources and future use (See Attachment F) work on this topic involved three major foci:
           
            1. Understanding the risks from the movement of contaminants on-site and off-site, including food chain risks on DOE sites

            2. Developing biomonitoring plans to assess ecological health, efficacy of remediation/restoration.

            3. Developing methods for the community and landscape scale assessment of ecological health and risk.

            The basis for this framework is that pure science studies are essential to understand risk from the migration of contaminants on site and offsite, that larger scale community and landscape metrics and approaches are necessary to examine sites as large as the major DOE sites, that biomonitoring is a viable approach to assessing ecological risk on DOE sites, and that understanding preferences of the public is essential for selection of remediation/restoration options on site.

Selected Papers:

Burger, J., K. F. Gaines, S. Boring, W. L. Stephens Jr., J. Snodgrass, and M. Gochfeld. 2001. Mercury and selenium in fish from the Savannah River: species, trophic level, and locational differences.  Environ. Res. 87:108-118.

Burger, J. Incorporating ecology and ecological risk into long-term stewardship on contaminated lands. 2002. Remediation 18:107-120.

Snodgrass, J. W., W. A. Hopkins, J. Broughton, D. Gwinn, J. A. Baionno, and J. Burger.  2004.  Species-specific responses of developing anurans to coal combustion wastes.  Aquatic Tox. 66:171-182.

Burger, J. and K. R. Campbell. 2004.  Species differences in contaminants in fish on and adjacent to the Oak Ridge Reservation, Tennessee.  Environ. Research 96:145-155.

Burger, J., K. R. Campbell, T. S. Campbell, T. Shukla, C. Dixon and M. Gochfeld. 2005. Use of central Stonerollers (CYprinidae: Campostoma anomalum) from Tennessee as a bioindicator of metal-contamination. Environ. Monit. Assess. 110:171-184.

Burger, J., M. A. Carletta, K. Lowrie, K. T. Miller, and M. Greenberg. 2004.  Assessing ecological resources for remediation and future land uses on contaminated lands.  Environmental Management. 34:1-10.

*Burger J. 2006. Bioinidicators: types, development and use in ecological assessment and research.  Environ. Bioindic. 1:1-18.

ASSESSMENT OF HUMAN HEALTH RISK

The assessment of low-level exposure to chemical and radiological is critical to understanding potential risk to workers on site and to the public.  This task involved foci:

            1. Assessing potential risk to workers and the public from contaminants on DOE sites.
            2. Developing bioindicators of public health exposure
            3. Analyzing procedures to document and protect sub-contract workers on DOE sites.

            One of the major accomplishments of this task was the integration: human and ecological health and risk, and 2) public health and worker risk.  Often in the past risk assessors examined ecological risk and human health risk separately.  CRESP developed a number of paradigms for understanding public health and worker health within an ecological framework.

Selected References:

*Burger, J. and M. Gochfeld. 2000. On developing bioindicators for human and ecological health.  Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 66:23-46.

*Burger, J., M. Gochfeld, L. F. McGrath, C. W. Powers. L. Waishwell, C. Warren and B. D. Goldstein. 2000. Science, policy, stakeholders, and fish consumption advisories: developing a fish fact sheet for the Savannah River.  Environ. Manage. 27:501-514.

Burger J., Karen F. Gaines and M. Gochfeld. 2001. Ethnic differences in risk from mercury among Savannah River fishermen.  Risk Anal. 21: 533-544.

*Burger, J., K. F. Gaines, W. L. Stephens Jr., C. S. Boring, I. L. Brisbin Jr., J. Snodgrass, J. Peles, L. Bryan, M. H. Smith, and M. Gochfeld. 2001. Radiocesium in Fish from the Savannah River and Steel Creek: Potential Food Chain Exposure to the Public. Risk Anal. 21: 545-559

Burger, J. and Lynne Waishwell. 2001. Are we Reaching the Target Audience: Evaluation of a Fish Fact Sheet.  Science of the Total Environment. 277:77-86.

Burger, J., K F. Gaines, C. S. Boring, W. L. Stephens, J. Snodgrass, C. Dixon, M. McMahon, S. Shukla, T. Shukla and M. Gochfeld. 2002.  Metal levels in fish from the Savannah River: potential hazards to fish and other receptors.  Environ. Res. 89:85-87

*Campbell, K. R., R. J. Dickey, R. Sexton, and J. Burger 2002. Fishing along the Clinch River arm of Watts Bar Reservoir adjacent to the Oak Ridge Reservation, Tennessee: behavior, knowledge and risk perception.  Science Total Environ. 288:145-161.

Burger, J. 2003. Consistency among methods of assessing concerns about the Los Alamos National Laboratory.  J. Tox. Environ. Health 66:199-210.

Burger, J., C. Dixon, C. S. Boring and M. Gochfeld. 2003. Effect of deep frying fish on risk from mercury. J. Toxicol. Environ. Health. 66:817-828.

Burger, J., K. F. Gaines, C. S. Boring, J. Snodgrass, W. L. Stephens Jr., and M. Gochfeld.  2004. Effects of cooking on radiocesium in fish from the Savannah River: Exposure differences for the public.  Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 46:231-235.
Burger, J, and M. Gochfeld. 2004. Bioindicators for assessing human and ecological health.  Pp 541-566 in Environmental monitoring (GB Wiersma, ed). CRC Press, Boca Raton Fl.

*Burger, J. 2004.  Recreational rates and future land-use preferences for four Department of Energy sites: consistency despite demographic and geographical differences.  Environmental Research 95:215-223.

Burger, J. and M. Gochfeld. 2005. The Peconic River: Concerns associated with different risk evaluations for fish consumption. J. Environ. Planning and Management. 48:789-808.

*Burger, J. and M. Gochfeld.  2006. A framework and information needs for the management of the risks from consumption of self-caught fish.  Environmental Research 101:275-285.

*Gochfeld, M. and S. Mohr. 2007. Protecting Contract Workers: Case Study of the U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Wastge Management. Amer J. Public Health. in Press.

FINAL REPORT: A Summary of Work 2000 - 2006

Instrument No. DE - FG26-00NT 40938 (Original Instrument No. DE-FG01-03EW15336)

Submitted by Charles W. Powers, PI CRESP II
Institute for Responsible Management
200 Centennial Avenue, Suite 200
Piscataway, NJ 08854
(732) 377-2010