Thursday, April 18, 2024
4/18/2024
Minnesota Statewide Biomonitoring Surveillance in Preschool-Aged Children Minnesota has grown a strong state biomonitoring program as a result of participation in the CDC’s LRN-C laboratory network and state legislation passed in 2007 that established a state-based biomonitoring program. However, the public health impact of the program has been limited by geographic scope and laboratory capacity. Laboratory methods are not fully aligned with CDC methods used in NHANES, and projects have generally focused on specific communities and not extended to the broader state population or tracked time trends. Environmental chemical exposures in children are a key concern due to this population’s vulnerability and developing body systems. Children in some communities across Minnesota, including rural communities, lower-income and communities of color, and immigrant communities, may be more highly exposed to certain chemicals, putting them at increased risk for long-lasting impacts on health. A number of forward-looking state policies have been passed to reduce childhood exposures. However, without systematic assessment of exposures, we are unable to evaluate the effectiveness of existing policies. This proposal would take the highly successful population-based recruitment model developed in our current Healthy Rural and Urban Kids (Healthy Kids) project and expand it statewide with the collaboration of key recruitment partners and stakeholders. Healthy Kids partnered with Early Childhood Screening (ECS) programs in local public health agencies and school districts to use systematic sampling techniques to recruit and collect urine samples from 3-6 year-old children. ECS programs offer a universal sampling frame: state law requires that all children be screened by these programs before entering kindergarten. From our experience in Healthy Kids, this model could easily and cost-effectively scale up to other parts of the state. We propose to sample children from one of seven Metro-area counties and one of seven non-Metro regions per year, aiming to recruit 250 children per community per year, for a total of 2,000 children during the funding period. Through a combination of developing new laboratory methods and re-validating and optimizing in-house methods, we propose to analyze urine samples for a suite of analytes of concern based on the state’s geology, industries and population, and that are tied to state policy initiatives. Analytes include flame retardants, phthalates, environmental phenols, metals (including speciated arsenic) and pesticides. We will provide appropriate public health follow up to families of children whose results exceed thresholds, and communicate results to all families in an informative and constructive manner. We will also share results widely with communities and other important stakeholder groups. Using high quality biomonitoring science and population-based recruitment methods to systematically assess Minnesota children’s exposures to chemicals of concern in the state will allow MDH and our partners to evaluate the many policies and programs aimed at reducing exposures to chemicals. It will increase the capacity of MDH’s PHL to conduct biomonitoring analyses and produce interpretable results that can be used to identify at-risk populations. The proposed program also offers exciting opportunities for statewide environmental health outreach and education. This award would allow our state’s strong biomonitoring foundation to expand from a series of isolated projects to full programmatic status, more fully meeting the needs of all Minnesotans. MDH is well-positioned to leverage our extensive biomonitoring experience, coupled with the boost in capacity and capabilities the proposed program would provide, into ongoing, sustainable funding for a state biomonitoring program.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
