Mónica Ramírez-Andreotta, SRP investigator, was invited to give a presentation on the impacts of the Gold King Mine spill at the 2nd Annual Desert Produce Safety Collaboration Conference in Yuma, AZ on January 12, 2016.
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Enero 18, 2022
2021 Papers of the Year: Plant Leaves Work as Reliable Air Monitor in Citizen-Science Study:
A Gardenroots publication, which demonstrated that plant leaves work as a reliable air monitor, was selected as one of the top NIEHS papers of 2021.
Gardenroots demonstrated that leaves can be used as a low-cost, reliable method to assess the level of metals in airborne dust. The method can help assess exposure from former mine sites that emit heavy metals that can be distributed by wind to nearby communities.
Twenty participants from Superior, Arizona, placed a potted peppermint plant and disc sampler in a self-selected area, usually outside of their home. After one month, they submitted two leaves and the disc for analysis of seven different metals — arsenic, lead, cadmium, copper, aluminum, nickel, and zinc.
On both the leaves and discs, levels of all metals decreased as distance from the mine increased. The results suggest that plant leaves can serve as a reliable monitor of metal-laden aerosols and that the low-cost technique is applicable to sites where resources are limited.
Citation: Zeider K, Van Overmeiren N, Rine KP, Sandhaus S, Eduardo Saez A, Sorooshian A, Munoz HC Sr, Ramirez-Andreotta MD. 2021. Foliar surfaces as dust and aerosol pollution monitors: an assessment by a mining site. Sci Total Environ 790:148164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148164.
Check out the summary prepared by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: https://factor.niehs.nih.gov/2021/10/papers/dert#a2
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Concerned Citizens & Retired Miners Coalition in Superior, AZ, specifically Roy C. Chavez for their dedication to environmental protection and social justice. Thank you to all the Superior, AZ Gardenroots participants for their time and efforts on the project. Special thank you to Iliana Manjón for their previous efforts and Fig. 3 and Miriam Jones for providing assistance to participants. Lastly, with great sadness, we would like to dedicate this manuscript to Roy Chavez, community champion and Chair/Spokesperson of the Concerned Citizens & Retired Miners Coalition in Superior, AZ who passed away in 2020.
More News
Octubre 1, 2015
Leaders Across Borders (LaB), a leadership program created by the United States-Mexico Border Health Commission to improve the health of communities located along the border, recently selected University of Arizona Superfund Research Program (UA SRP) Research Translation Core (RTC) Principle Investigator, Dr. Monica Ramirez-Andreotta, to participate in their 2016 program.
Agosto 6, 2015
Dr. Sarah Wilkinson spoke in two sessions at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s 14th Community Involvement Training Conference held in Atlanta, GA, August 4-6, 2015.