Measuring historical pollution: Natural history collections as tools for public health and environmental justice research

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: DuBay, Shane; Weeks, Brian C.; Davis-Kean, Pamela E.; Fuldner, Carl; Harris, Nyeema C.; Hughes, Sara; O'Brien, Bruce; Perkins, Marie; Weyant, Cheryl
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Arlington; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; University of Chicago; Yale University; University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Stevens Point; University of Chicago
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-14525
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2403781122
• 发表日期: 2025-06-17
• 关键词: air-pollution; UNITED-STATES; lead; exposure; disparities; CHILDREN; inheritance; mortality; biomarker; QUALITY

摘要

Through the industrial era, pollutants have been unevenly distributed intheenvironment, disproportionatelyimpacting disenfranchised communities. Redressing the unequal distribution of environmental pollution is thus a question of environmental justice and public health that requires policy solutions. However, data on pollutants for many locations and time periods are limited because environmental monitoring is largely reactive-i.e., pollutants are monitored only after they are recognized as harmful and are circulating in the environment at elevated levels. Without comprehensive historical pollution data, it is difficult to understand the full, intergenerational consequences of pollutants on environmental and human health. We assert that biological specimens in natural history collections are an underutilized source of quantitative pollution data for tracking environmental pollutants over two centuries to inform justice-centered policy solutions. Specifically, we: 1) discuss the need for quantitative pollution data in environmental research and its implications for public health and policy, 2) examine the capacity of biological specimens as tools for tracking environmental pollutants through space and time, 3) present a framework for integrating pollution datasets from specimens with spatially and temporally matched human health datasets to inform and evaluate policy, and 4) identify challenges and research directions associated with the use of quantitative pollution datasets. Biological specimens present a unique opportunity to fill critical gaps that address environmental challenges relevant to public health and policy. This work demands interdisciplinary partnerships and inclusive practices to connect data generated from specimens with urgent questions about environmental health and justice.