Identifying and Addressing Contaminant Risks in Fish Tissue in the Cape Fear River

NIH RePORTER · NIH · P42 · $92,660 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Project Summary Due to ubiquitous contamination from bioaccumulative carcinogens, endocrine disrupting chemicals, and neurodevelopmental toxicants, fish consumption advisories are in effect in every state in the US. These advisories are of vital importance to protecting the health of people who rely on local fish for subsistence, particularly children and pregnant and nursing women due to the development impacts of common contaminants. However, most fish advisories are based on risk assessments of only the commonly caught species and consumption patterns of recreational fishermen, limiting their relevance and effectiveness for subsistence populations. The goal of the proposed project is to conduct research to support the refinement of fish consumption advisories and outreach on the northeast Cape Fear River (CFR) in North Carolina to be more accurate and specifically relevant to subsistence fish consumers. Fish and shellfish tissue from limited testing on the CFR have shown levels of mercury, PCBs, selenium, arsenic, hexavalent chromium and persistent pesticides above EPA standards for human consumption. The administrative supplement would allow the Community Engagement Core (CEC) of the Duke University Superfund Research Center (DUSRC) to respond to an expressed need of a coalition of community-based organizations in this region with whom they have partnered around this issue since 2016 by: 1) conducting contaminant analysis for the species of fish that people in this region are consuming for subsistence; 2) test for contaminants we suspect may be present at elevated levels but which are beyond those currently targeted by the NC Department of Environmental Quality in setting fish advisories. The methods employed in this project will include: 1) intercept surveys with subsistence fish consumers to understand where people are fishing and what species they consume; 2) passive water sampling at five of these sites to detect concentrations of PCBs, PAHs, and dioxins; 3) analysis of fish tissue from these sites for PCBs, dioxins, mercury, arsenic, and hexavalent chromium. The results of this project will be directly applied to refine our existing social marketing campaign in the region and to inform the setting of fish consumption advisories by North Carolina state agencies and local health authorities. The project overlaps with the focus of the DUSRC on early life exposure and later life consequences. The project also overlaps with other DUSRC cores and projects: it draws on the methodological interests and strengths of the Analytical Chemistry Core, connects to Project 4 on the impacts of PAHs on fish, and supports the Research Translation Core’s aim of communicating research findings to policy stakeholders.

Key facts

NIH application ID
9944050
Project number
3P42ES010356-18S1
Recipient
DUKE UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator
Richard Di Giulio
Activity code
P42
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2020
Award amount
$92,660
Award type
3
Project period
2000-06-01 → 2022-03-31