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November 2009, Vol 99, No. S3 | American Journal of Public Health S600-S609
© 2009 American Public Health Association
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.149088

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Linking Exposure Assessment Science With Policy Objectives for Environmental Justice and Breast Cancer Advocacy: The Northern California Household Exposure Study

Julia Green Brody, PhD, Rachel Morello-Frosch, PhD, MPH, Ami Zota, ScD, Phil Brown, PhD, Carla Pérez, BA and Ruthann A. Rudel, MS

Julia Green Brody, Ami Zota, and Ruthann A. Rudel are with the Silent Spring Institute, Newton, MA. Rachel Morello-Frosch is with the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. Phil Brown is with the Department of Sociology and the Center for Environmental Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI. At the time of the study, Carla Pérez was with Communities for a Better Environment, Oakland, CA.

Correspondence: Correspondence should be sent to Julia Green Brody, PhD, Silent Spring Institute, 29 Crafts St, Newton, MA 02458 (e-mail: brody{at}silentspring.org). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking on the "Reprints/Eprints" link.

Objectives. We compared an urban fence-line community (neighboring an oil refinery) and a nonindustrial community in an exposure study focusing on pollutants of interest with respect to breast cancer and environmental justice.

Methods. We analyzed indoor and outdoor air from 40 homes in industrial Richmond, California, and 10 in rural Bolinas, California, for 153 compounds, including particulates and endocrine disruptors.

Results. Eighty compounds were detected outdoors in Richmond and 60 in Bolinas; Richmond concentrations were generally higher. Richmond's vanadium and nickel levels indicated effects of heavy oil combustion from oil refining and shipping; these levels were among the state's highest. In nearly half of Richmond homes, PM2.5 exceeded California's annual ambient air quality standard. Paired outdoor–indoor measurements were significantly correlated for industry- and traffic-related PM2.5, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, elemental carbon, metals, and sulfates (r = 0.54–0.92, P < .001).

Conclusions. Indoor air quality is an important indicator of the cumulative impact of outdoor emissions in fence-line communities. Policies based on outdoor monitoring alone add to environmental injustice concerns in communities that host polluters. Community-based participatory exposure research can contribute to science and stimulate and inform action on the part of community residents and policymakers.






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