MN Biomonitoring News and Program Updates

News from Minnesota Biomonitoring: Chemicals in people   Welcome! to the first News from Minnesota Biomonitoring: Chemicals in people newsletter. This will be sent three times a year to keep you up-to-date on our program and advisory panel activities. Please share and encourage interested colleagues to subscribe. Healthy Rural and Urban Kids Community Report Released Minnesota Biomonitoring released results in February from our Healthy Rural and Urban Kids project. This project measured chemicals in preschool-aged children living in two different communities in the summer of 2018: neighborhoods in North Minneapolis and three counties in north-central Minnesota. We partnered with Early Childhood Screening programs at Minneapolis Public Schools and Becker, Todd, and Wadena counties to offer participation to families coming in for their child's screening visit. With families' consent, the project measured 21 chemicals in urine that tell us about exposure to air pollution, metals, and pesticides. The results found that chemical exposures were widespread and common, and differ by location, racial/ethnic group, household practices, and other factors. The project also offered families information sheets on ways to reduce exposures. The findings help us learn about potential ways Minnesota kids may be coming in contact with these chemicals that may harm development or cause other health problems in kids, and point to equity issues that are important to address. This information informs programs and policies that reduce childhood exposures and create healthy neighborhoods and homes for kids. Update: New Healthy Kids Minnesota Program Explores Chemical Exposures Statewide Launched in Fall 2021, Healthy Kids Minnesota is a new statewide program to measure exposures to potentially harmful chemicals in children. It expands the Healthy Rural and Urban Kids project (see above) into a statewide effort, allowing us to include more kids and more chemicals. Results will help inform families, address community concerns, and promote policies that reduce childhood exposures. Funded though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the program will cycle through different state regions over 5-years to include one Greater Minnesota and one Metro region per year. The first year of the program, Healthy Kids Minnesota 2021, is taking place in Minneapolis and Southeast Minnesota. We are working with partners at Minneapolis Public Schools, Fillmore County Public Health, Olmsted County Public Health, and Rochester Public Schools to recruit children with their families' consent who were scheduled for Early Childhood Screening (ECS) visits. To date, 436 children have been recruited, and recruitment will continue until the end of March 2022. In 2022, Healthy Kids Minnesota will move to St. Paul and the seven-county region in Northeast Minnesota that includes four Tribal Nations. Staff are conducting promising meetings with potential partners in these areas. February 2022: Advisory Panel Meeting Summary Opportunities for Future PFAS Biomonitoring in Minnesota MDH Biomonitoring staff presented on opportunities for PFAS Biomonitoring in Minnesota. Past MDH biomonitoring PFAS projects were reviewed and framed the presentations and discussion for the remainder of the meeting.   3M East Metro Settlement Plan: Overview and Update Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) staff gave an update on the 3M Settlement Plan developed as part of the lawsuit between the State of Minnesota and the 3M Company.   Minnesota PFAS Blueprint Monitoring Plan  MPCA staff gave an overview of the MPCA's PFAS Blueprint Monitoring Plan, a draft plan that lays out a path forward for PFAS monitoring at different sites in Minnesota. MDH Environmental Health gave a short update on a new MDH initiative to test for PFAS in community water systems in Minnesota.   Public comment and advisory panel input were sought on priorities for PFAS Biomonitoring in Minnesota.  The Environmental Health Tracking and Biomonitoring Advisory Panel meets three times a year to provide recommendations on program priorities and activities. More information about advisory panel members, meetings, and past materials can be found online. The next meeting will take place June 14, 2022. Manage Preferences  |  Unsubscribe  |  Help  |  health.state.mn.us

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