VNR: $3.6M NIH grant to uncover hidden health risks from Hawaiʻi’s plantation era

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***SUGGESTED VOSOT SCRIPT BELOW***

Investigating a hidden environmental health threat across Hawaiʻi-pollutants left behind by decades of agricultural and industrial activity, and whether wildfires and other disasters can bring those contaminants back into the environment and into people's bodies-is the focus of a new University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai-led research project that received a five-year, $3.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The new study builds directly on the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study (MauiWES), UH's longitudinal health study (a health study that follows participants over time) established after the 2023 Maui wildfires, and will expand that work to understand how Hawaiʻi's historical environmental contamination may be affecting communities today.

The highly competitive NIH R01 grant, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), will establish the Health and Environment Assessment Longitudinal (HEAL) cohort, following 1,000 Hawaiʻi residents over five years. It will be the first systematic investigation in Hawaiʻi of heart and lung health risks associated with these legacy pollutants, including arsenic, lead, dioxins and others related to "forever" chemicals.

The project, Impact of Legacy Pollutants on Cardiopulmonary Health Following Natural Disasters, is led by principal investigators Alika Maunakea, professor at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), Ruben Juarez, UHERO -HMSA Distinguished Endowed Professor of Health Economics at UH Mānoa, and Alison Lee, a physician-scientist with ties to Hawaiʻi at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Hawaiʻi's past may still be affecting health today

For generations, sugarcane shaped Hawaiʻi's economy, communities and landscape. But that history also left behind contaminants that can remain in the environment for decades. Former agricultural areas may contain arsenic, lead, dioxins and other mixtures. Arsenic was historically used in pesticides and in canec, a sugarcane-based construction material once widely used in Hawaiʻi homes and buildings. The concern is not only what remains in the ground, but what happens when these hazards are spread by flood or wildfires.

The 2023 Maui wildfires burned homes, buildings, and infrastructure in communities with a long agricultural history. Researchers want to understand whether intense fires can disturb contaminants that have remained in soil or older structures for decades, creating new pathways of human exposure.

"Hawaiʻi has environmental exposures that are deeply connected to our history, but we still know remarkably little about what they mean for health today," Maunakea said. "MauiWES gave us an unprecedented window into what happens to health after a major wildfire. Now we can build on that foundation to ask a bigger question: Are pollutants left in our environment decades ago still affecting people today, and can disasters bring those risks back to the surface?"

MauiWES to a statewide environmental health study

The new cohort will build on the infrastructure, community partnerships and scientific foundation developed through MauiWES while expanding the research beyond wildfire exposure alone.

Over five years, researchers plan to enroll 1,000 people across four groups: people with little-known exposure to wildfire or legacy pollutants; residents near former sugarcane lands; people exposed to wildfire but with lower expected exposure to legacy pollutants; and people exposed to both wildfire and legacy pollutants.

Researchers will combine soil and water testing, biological samples, heart and lung assessments, community-engaged citizen science, and geographic mapping to answer important questions: What is in the environment, is it getting into people, and is it affecting their health? They will examine outcomes including lung function, blood pressure and inflammation.

"Wildfires can burn homes and infrastructure and disturb contaminants that have been sitting in our environment for generations," Juarez said. "By connecting environmental samples with what we find in people's bodies and their health, we can begin to understand that full chain of exposure. This can help us design approaches to mitigate such exposures and improve the health of our community."

Finding Hawaiʻi's hidden contamination with national implications

One major goal is to identify potential contamination hotspots near former sugarcane areas and determine whether people living near those areas have higher levels of pollutants in their soil, water or biological samples. Researchers will then examine whether those exposures are associated with poorer heart and lung health and whether legacy pollutants help explain some of the health effects associated with wildfire exposure.

"Most environmental health studies look at one exposure at a time," Lee said. "But communities experience many exposures together. Hawaiʻi gives us an important opportunity to understand what happens when a major disaster occurs on top of decades of existing environmental contamination."

The implications extend far beyond the islands. Across the U.S., wildfires are increasingly reaching communities where homes, vehicles, industrial materials and historical contamination can all become part of the disaster environment. The researchers hope the study can ultimately help Hawaiʻi identify where contamination remains, who may be most exposed and what can be done before the next disaster occurs-while providing a model for other communities facing similar risks nationwide.

The NIH R01 grant, funded by NIEHS, is under award number 1R01ES038296.

Link to video and sound (details below): https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/Pi3mgsPu4T

VIDEO:

BROLL: (0:18)

0:00-0:18 - Sugarcane

Suggesting to use wildfire and other natural disaster broll

SOUNDBITES:

Alika Maunakea, professor at the UH Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine

(0:16)

"So a wildfire does much more than burn vegetation, it can disturb contaminated soil, burn older homes and infrastructure, and spread material through smoke, ash, dust and water. That means contaminants that may be sitting relatively undisturbed for decades can potentially become a new source of human exposure."

(0:18)

"So we're trying to connect the entire chain of exposure. We'll measure what's in the environment, determine whether those contaminants are getting into people's bodies, and then examine whether they're associated with changes in heart and lung function. So that gives us a much clearer picture of whether an environmental contaminant is actually becoming a human health hazard."

Ruben Juarez, UHERO-HMSA Distinguished Endowed Professor of Health Economics at UH Mānoa

(0:14)

"The best time to understand environmental risk is before the next disaster, not afterward. If we can identify where contamination exists and which communities may be most vulnerable, we can take steps to reduce exposure and improve preparedness."

VOSOT SCRIPT:

INTRO:

Could Hawaiʻi's plantation-era past still be affecting people's health today?

That's what University of Hawaiʻi researchers want to find out.

VO:

They've received three-point-six million dollars from the National Institutes of Health to study pollutants left behind by decades of agricultural activity.

Chemicals like arsenic and lead can remain in the soil and older buildings for decades.

Researchers want to know what happens when wildfires disturb those pollutants-and whether they can get into people's bodies.

SOT:

Alika Maunakea, professor at the UH Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine

(0:16)

"So a wildfire does much more than burn vegetation, it can disturb contaminated soil, burn older homes and infrastructure, and spread material through smoke, ash, dust and water. That means contaminants that may be sitting relatively undisturbed for decades can potentially become a new source of human exposure."

Ruben Juarez, UHERO-HMSA Distinguished Endowed Professor of Health Economics at UH Mānoa

(0:14)

"The best time to understand environmental risk is before the next disaster, not afterward. If we can identify where contamination exists and which communities may be most vulnerable, we can take steps to reduce exposure and improve preparedness."

VO:

The five-year study will follow one thousand Hawaiʻi residents, looking at possible effects on heart and lung health.