Community-based participatory research projects and policy engagement to protect environmental health on St Lawrence Island, Alaska.

Objectives: This article synthesizes discussion of collaborative research results, interventions and policy engagement for St Lawrence Island (SLI), Alaska, during the years 2000-2012.

Methods: As part of on-going community-based participatory research (CBPR) studies on SLI, 5 discrete exposure-assessment projects were conducted: (a) a biomonitoring study of human blood serum; (b-d) 3 investigations of levels of contaminants in environmental media at an abandoned military site at Northeast Cape--using sediment cores and plants, semi-permeable membrane devices and blackfish, respectively; and (e) a study of traditional foods.

Results: Blood serum in residents of SLI showed elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) with higher levels among those exposed to the military site at Northeast Cape, an important traditional subsistence-use area.

Organochlorine and metal contaminants in traditional foods from St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.

Marine mammals (bowhead whale, walrus, and various seals) constitute the major component of the diet of the Yupik people of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. St.

Levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and three organochlorine pesticides in fish from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.

Background: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and chlorinated pesticides, have been shown to have many adverse human health effects. These contaminants therefore may pose a risk to Alaska Natives that follow a traditional diet high in marine mammals and fish, in which POPs bioaccumulate.

Methods And Findings: This study examined the levels of PCBs and three pesticides [p, p'-DDE, mirex, and hexachlorobenzene (HCB)] in muscle tissue from nine fish species from several locations around the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.