What is it about?
The small coastal settlement of Mapua was the home of a pesticide plant for over 60 years. The site was 'orphaned' after closure, meaning that no-one was responsible for remediation of the extensive ground contamination. Remediation of the contaminated soil took place 'on site' by building a plant right next to dwellings. Residents became aware on odours and emissions, and dioxins were measured from the plant on one or two occasions, but could have been present more often and at higher levels. This study was commissioned to see if there were any health effects detectible in the local community, or there was an increase in the blood level of dioxins in residents.
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Why is it important?
Fortunately, we detected neither an increase in blood dioxin levels nor any health effects.
Perspectives
For me, the major objective of the study was to connect with the community and share ownership. We visited the site frequently, and met with the community. I expected the most difficult part to be explaining the blood results , which I did by holding local 'clinics'. Fortunately no-one had high levels, which can be difficult to explain because the exposure may have occurred way in the past. This was almost back to clinical work again and I think our blood volunteers didn't mind at all!
Dr David I McBride
University of Otago
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Community exposure to hazardous site remediation in rural New Zealand: an exposed-referent study of serum dioxins and health effects, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, October 2016, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/1753-6405.12583.
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