Biomonitoring of the Great Lakes Populations II
The purpose of this program was to evaluate body burden levels of priority contaminants in Great Lakes residents, particularly those who are at highest exposure risk, in an area that was not addressed in the original cooperative agreement program. The ATSDR BGLP-II awarded funds to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH).
Onondaga Lake is a 4.5-square-mile, highly polluted Great Lakes Basin water body adjacent to the city of Syracuse and the towns of Salina, Geddes, and Camillus. As a result of past industry, Onondaga Lake waters are contaminated with mercury, and sediments are contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, creosotes, heavy metals (including lead, cobalt and mercury), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and volatile organic compounds such as chlorobenzene. Fish caught from Onondaga Lake have the highest mercury levels in NYS. NYSDOH looked at adults living in Syracuse, NY who are known to eat fish from Onondaga Lake. The NYSDOH biomonitoring program’s two target subpopulations were: (1) the Burmese and Bhutanese refugee community in Syracuse who are known to eat a substantial amount of fish from Onondaga Lake; (2) an urban, subsistence population who rely on fish from Onondaga Lake as a source of food.
Given the dietary importance of fish consumption in these subpopulations, the NYSDOH conducted educational outreach to study communities on reducing exposure to contaminants by providing visual aids to assist with choosing better fish to eat, and fish species to avoid/limit. People were given color-coded maps for the region which showed local fishing waters to avoid in red and preferable fishing waters in blue. Specific fish consumption advice was also provided for women of childbearing age and children. Community events were held in collaboration with community partners and translators to help ensure effective delivery of health messages.