Health Impacts for Hispanic Populations in Arizona

The impacted populations from Superfund sites in Arizona and neighboring regions tend to include a significant number of Hispanic people who speak Spanish as their primary language. For example, the Air Force Plant 44 National Superfund site in Tucson involves contaminated wells that served a population whose primary language was Spanish. Regional governmental agencies had to provide materials in Spanish so that these populations could understand their situation. Hispanic populations tend to be disproportionately represented in areas close to abandoned mines and tailing piles and in municipalities with high arsenic in the drinking water. A case in point is the Hispanic population of Ajo which was exposed to higher levels of arsenic in their drinking water (4) than their non-Hispanic counterparts. Very recently high incidences of leukemia have been reported among children in Sierra Vista, a town with a high Hispanic population (2). Hot spots of tungsten from local mining activities is suspect but not yet a proven cause of the elevated incidences of leukemia. Also Hispanic children in Yuma, an agricultural area, have been shown to have a high incidence of exposure to pesticide residues (1, 3).

References Cited:

1. Hart, R., L. Ortega, C. Rosales, G. Robertson, R. Philen, and D. Barr. 2000. Preliminary results from an investigation on pesticide exposure among children living in agricultural areas along the US Mexico border in Yuma County, Arizona. Epidemiology 11:S151-S151.

2. McClain, C. 2004. CDC to investigate leukemia cases, Arizona Daily Star, Tucson. Feb 4, p. B.1

3. O'Rourke, M. K., M. D. Lebowitz, and C. G. Saint. 1999. Urinary biomarkers & exposure of young children to pesticide in Yuma Co., AZ, USA. Epidemiology 10:S110-S110.

4. O'Rourke, M. K., S. P. Rogan, S. Jin, and G. L. Robertson. 1999. Spatial distributions of arsenic exposure and mining communities from NHEXAS Arizona. Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology 9:446-455.