Gary Ginsberg, Ph.D., Director NY State Department of Health’s Center for Environmental Health and Professor at Yale University, met with our Dartmouth Superfund Research Program team and several trainees to discuss risk assessment and toxicology regarding emerging contaminants, including PFAS and 1-4 Dioxane. Dr. Ginsberg also participated in lunch-time conversation with our state partners from the VT Department of Health and NH DES (Department of Environmental Services) and NH DHHS (Health and Human Services) to discuss issues of mutual concern pertaining to emerging contaminants and PFAS in particular. More than 50 people attended an afternoon seminar Dr. Ginsberg gave on “The Challenge and Opportunities Presented by Emerging Contaminants.”

According to an NHPR (NH Public Radio) story, recent testing data indicates many NH public water systems likely will not be in compliance with the state’s new arsenic in drinking water standard of 5 ppb that will go into effect in mid-2021. According to Paul Susca of NHDES (Department of Environmental Services) Drinking Water Bureau, state officials are working with potentially affected water systems on how they can be in compliance with the new limit. The new standard, which is lower than the federal standard of 10 ppb, was enacted because of the linkage between arsenic exposure and illnesses such as lung and bladder cancer and elevated risks of cardiovascular and developmental problems. The NHPR coverage cites research by Dartmouth’s Superfund Research Program on the large number of private wells that will exceed the 5 ppb standard, as well as a study on the increased risk of bladder cancer.  Although the new standard does not apply to private wells, private well owners are encouraged to comply with the new limits due to the health risks of As in drinking water, according to Paul Susca.

Dartmouth College has received a grant of $5000 from the Wellborn Foundation for our Superfund Research Program’s Dragonfly Project. The Dragonfly Project involves working with high school science classes in NH and VT to collect dragonfly larvae for mercury testing. The Project is part of our effort to educate students about “…mercury in our world and the importance of clear, data-based scientific research and communication to mitigate mercury risks.” More information on the grant.

SEPA project “Data to Action: A Secondary School-Based Citizen Science Project to Address Arsenic Contamination of Well Water” is aimed at promoting both data literacy and increasing rates of private well water testing for Arsenic in participating communities. Funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), it is being implemented by Dartmouth SRP in partnership with the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory.  Bruce Stanton (Project 3 Leader) is a co-PI. SRP researcher Kate Buckman is the project’s NH school coordinator.

Videos on the project describe student and teacher involvement with the project:

Maine PBS: Waterville Senior High School
YouTube: An Introduction to DataLit

Laurel Schaider, Ph.D., gave a talk on “PFAS and Other Contaminants of Emerging Concern in the Waters of Cape Cod: Understanding Exposures and Addressing Community Concerns”. Dr. Schaider’s  September 18 seminar, which was co-sponsored by our Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program and Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine Department of Epidemiology and attended by more than 40 people, focused on the health effects of PFAS, current research studies and activities to educate  communities about PFAS. Dr. Schaeder is Research Scientist at Silent Spring Institute and lead investigator of PFAS-REACH (Research, Education, and Action for Community Health), a new study evaluating PFAS immunotoxicity in children and addressing the needs of communities affected by PFAS water contamination, She also co-leads the STEEP Superfund Research Program’s Community Engagement Core.

Dartmouth Superfund Research Program researchers Celia Chen, Kate Buckman and Vivien Taylor gave several oral and poster presentations related to our mercury research at the September 8-13 ICMGP (International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant) in Krakow, Poland. Abstract titles for the oral presentations were: “Relationships Between Mercury in Sediment and the Water Column to Fish Bioaccumulation in Human Impacted Estuaries in Long Island, NY” (presenter: Celia Chen), “Meta-Analysis of Mercury Concentration in Forage Fish Across Northeast USA Estuaries” (presenter: Kate Buckman). Drs. Chen, Buckman and Taylor also were co-authors of the abstract “Ecosystem Controls on the Incidence of Methylmercury in Temperate Estuarine Water Columns” (presenter: Emily Seelen). Complete listing of conference oral presentations. Our SRP was a Silver Sponsor of the Conference and SRP Director Dr. Chen was on the meeting’s Scientific Steering Committee. The Conference was attended by more than 700 people from 50 countries.

NH communities are working to comply with the state’s lowered  allowable limit for arsenic in public drinking water, which goes into effect July 2021. Governor Chris Sununu signed legislation in July which reduced the allowable limit for arsenic in public drinking water from 10 ppb (parts per billion) to 5 ppb. Dartmouth’s Superfund Program researchers have found that long-term exposure to low levels of arsenic increases cancer risks and may also be linked to heart disease and diabetes. More information