Judith Zelikoff is director of the NYU Environmental Medicine Outreach Program and Toxicology Professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine. Zelikoff’s lab has been working with the Ramapough Turtle Clan in Ringwood, NJ since 2013 and as of 2018 has established a partnership with the Ramapough Deer Clan from Hillburn, New York, another Ford dumping ground.
by OYEMWENOSA AVENBUAN - Hummingbird Firm. Atlanta, GA. DENNIS DEFREESE - Ramapough Lenape Nation, West Milford, NJ. DR. JUDITH T. ZELIKOFF -New York University, Dept. of Environmental Medicine
The Zelikoff lab has partnered with the Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan since 2013 with the objective of building capacity and awareness in environmental health through a Needs Assessment survey that identified self-declared diseases of community members and their live-at-home children, and assessed if and when they worked, lived, or played on/near the 500-acre Superfund site in Upper Ringwood, NJ. Working with Ramapough Turtle Clan community members and citizen scientists, Dr. Zelikoff and her graduate students addressed the community’s concerns regarding exposure to toxic environmental contamination by collection of local soil, fish, plants and drinking/surface water from the Ringwood area and analyses of toxic and carcinogenic metals, such as mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr) vanadium (V) and arsenic (As).
Results of these studies, currently being prepared for publication, revealed toxic and/or carcinogenic heavy metals above EPA soil screening standards and the New Jersey Residential Direct Constant Soil Remediation Standard. Water samples collected from the Church of the Good Shepherd’s potable water revealed Pb levels above the EPA maximum allowable drinking water regulations. Likewise, surface water samples from a local fishing pond demonstrated the presence of some of the same toxic metals and plant and fish samples collected in the same areas had elevated levels of total Cr and Pb.
Based on the results, we advised the Ramapough community in a townhall report-back meeting to refrain from fishing or recreating in their local pond and limit hunting nearby their homes. Likewise, based on our findings in the drinking water faucets in the Church Community Center, the Borough of Ringwood hired an independent environmental consultant company to repeat our measurements and to test the non-monitored well serving the Church. Our results were confirmed and the town changed the Church’s drinking water source to municipal water.
In a recent paper from our lab (Meltzer et al., 2020), a link between proximity and potential exposure to the Superfund site and pulmonary health conditions were described and follow-up studies are intended. We are planning to work closely with the Chief of the Turtle Clan, Vincent Mann on their Munsee Three Sister farming activity to help build food safety, provide community members a place to cultivate the land without fear of contamination, and disseminate environmental health knowledge. Dr. Zelikoff and the NYU Department of Environmental Medicine continue to partner with the Ramapough Nation concerning follow-up exposure assessment, epidemiological and toxicological studies, as well as a focused documentary.
In summary, environmental health issues are not unique to the Ramapough Lenape Nation. Native Americans throughout the country face disproportionate levels of hazardous environmental contaminants. Nearly 25% of all U.S. Superfund sites are located in Indian Country, and 16% of all Native Americans live within three miles of a Superfund site. Adding to their toxic legacy, 48% of homes on Native American reservations have no access to clean drinking water, reliable water sources or adequate sanitation. Thus, partnerships with academic institutions that can help provide resources to foster self-reliance and build capacity in environmental health, are critical for health and healing.
Essay - Environmental Health in Ringwood by Dr. Judy Zelikoff et.al.
