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Image Caption: Top row L-R: Henry Muñoz (Concerned Citizens), Carmen Tirdea (AZDHS), Kunal Palawat (UArizona), Ruth Pannill (UArizona), Jessika Mesa (UArizona), Sylvia Degado-Barrett (Concerned Citizens), Bottom Row L to R: Jamica Dillard (AZDHS), Alex Trahan (UArizona), Kore Redden (Pinal County Public Health Services District), Dr. Mónica Ramírez-Andreotta (UArizona).

On June 4, 2022 a group of academic, government, and community organizations conducted a soilSHOP for the residents of Superior, AZ. Community members brought in 34 soil samples for lead and arsenic screening. Individual one-on-one heath education consultations were conducted with participants. There were presentations on past soil contamination studies in the area and on how to reduce arsenic and lead exposures. Pamphlets were also passed out with additional information and contact details, such as:

• Garden Preparation: Reduce Arsenic Absorption by Vegetables
• Safe Gardening: Reduce Incidental Soil Ingestion and Inhalation
• Safe Consumption of Homegrown Vegetables: Reduce Dietary Arsenic and Lead Ingestion
• Childhood Lead Poisoning
• Adult Lead Poisoning
• Arsenic in the Garden
• What are Mine Tailings?
• What is Outdoor Dust?

The event was spearheaded by Associate Professor, Dr. Mónica Ramírez-Andreotta, and coordinated by Masters student, Alex Trahan from the University of Arizona (UArizona) Department of Environmental Sciences’ Integrated Environmental Science and Health Risk Laboratory and NIEHS Superfund Research Program. Partners included the Concerned Citizens and Retired Miners Coalition of Superior, Arizona, Arizona Department of Health Services, Pinal County Public Health Services District, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

In 2018, at the request of, and in collaboration with the Concerned Citizens Retired Miners Coalition, Dr. Ramírez-Andreotta brought a series of public meetings regarding mining and the environment and her co-created community science program, Gardenroots to Superior. Gardenroots, a federally funded program, was initiated in 2010 and has been implemented in mining communities throughout Arizona.

A special thanks to the Town of Superior for the use of their facilities and Los Hermanos Restaurant for catering the luncheon.