title: Cumulative Environmental Impacts: Science and Policy to Protect Communities.
abstract: Many communities are located near multiple sources of pollution, including current and former industrial sites, major roadways, and agricultural operations. Populations in such locations are predominantly low-income, with a large percentage of minorities and non-English speakers. These communities face challenges that can affect the health of their residents, including limited access to health care, a shortage of grocery stores, poor housing quality, and a lack of parks and open spaces. Environmental exposures may interact with social stressors, thereby worsening health outcomes. Age, genetic characteristics, and preexisting health conditions increase the risk of adverse health effects from exposure to pollutants. There are existing approaches for characterizing cumulative exposures, cumulative risks, and cumulative health impacts. Although such approaches have merit, they also have significant constraints. New developments in exposure monitoring, mapping, toxicology, and epidemiology, especially when informed by community participation, have the potential to advance the science on cumulative impacts and to improve decision making.
authors.affiliation: Office of the Secretary, California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), Sacramento, California 95812; email: Gina.Solomon@calepa.ca.gov.
authors.forename: Gina M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-3114; email: rmf@berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Morello-Frosch
authors.affiliation: Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), Oakland, California 94612; email: Lauren.Zeise@oehha.ca.gov , John.Faust@oehha.ca.gov.
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zeise
authors.affiliation: Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), Oakland, California 94612; email: Lauren.Zeise@oehha.ca.gov , John.Faust@oehha.ca.gov.
authors.forename: John B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Faust
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D002980:Climate; D003906:Developing Countries; D004777:Environment; D004779:Environment Design; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects; D057766:Policy; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014504:Urban Health; D014507:Urbanization / Q000639:trends
keywords: CalEnviroScreen; biomonitoring; environmental justice; health impact assessment; risk assessment