Evaluating Tribal Dietary, Lifestyle, and Ceremonial Exposures for Use in EPA Superfund Risk Assessments

As part of their work with the Tribal Superfund Working Group, ITEP has hosted a series of virtual meetings about risk assessment research conducted by the US EPA. The report, “Evaluating Tribal Dietary, Lifestyle, and Ceremonial Exposures for Use in EPA Superfund Risk Assessments” is now available. The research for this paper was developed by EPA interns Isabel Alexander and Grace Maley and overseen by Jon Richards of Region 4 along with Stuart Walker and Michele Burgess of SF HQ. Both interns worked with the Tribal Superfund Working Group to engage several Tribes in contributing data and clarity with regards to specific species or cooking preparations. For various reasons, the report shows exposures to contaminants tend to be elevated for some Indigenous populations compared with the general population that is represented by EPA default exposure rates.