Superfund Research Program News

A joint effort between the Southeast Climate Science Center (SECSC) and the UNC Superfund Research Program, led by Dr. Damian Shea, has led to the creation of the Southeast Global Change Monitoring Portal (GCMP). The GCMP supports the efforts of multiple state and federal agencies and other organizations by providing a centralized, comprehensive catalog of… Read more »

October 9, 2014 Increased levels of metals such as cadmium, arsenic, lead and manganese in North Carolina are present in private well water, and some may be linked to defects in children, a new UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health study has found. In a research article published Sept. 15 by BioMed Central Public… Read more »

Oct. 6, 2014 Reducing women’s exposure to cadmium during pregnancy likely would cut down on adverse outcomes such as preterm labor, low birth weight and early pregnancy loss, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study has found. In an article published July 30 online in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental… Read more »

September 29, 2014 Kat Bawden, community engagement coordinator with the Research Translation Core (RTC), attended the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2014 National Forum on Contaminants in Fish last week in Alexandria, Virginia. There she presented a poster on the initial results of UNC SRP’s pilot program to evaluate the effectiveness of educational material for anglers on… Read more »

The UNC SRP Research Translation Core collaborated with the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center to create a 900 square foot exhibit featuring the history and science of coal tar remediation at manufactured gas plants in North Carolina. UNC SRP investigators, as well as experts from the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources and industry, provided… Read more »

April 7, 2014 Protein changes associated with prenatal exposure to arsenic may hold the key to understanding the workings of adult-onset diseases tied to arsenic in the environment, a study at UNC has found. In an article published online March 27 in Toxicological Sciences by the Oxford Journals, Rebecca C. Fry, PhD, associate professor of… Read more »

March 13, 2014 The following article, by Sara Mishamandani, is reprinted from the March 2014 issue of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ newsletter, Environmental Factor. The NIEHS article contains additional information, including a recording of Shapiro’s webinar tutorial. Andy Shapiro, a Master of Science in Public Health student in environmental sciences and engineering… Read more »

March 12, 2014 Recycling car batteries by smelting them into lead ingots may recharge a community’s economy, but a study by researchers at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health indicates that the resulting exposure to toxic metals can affect children who live near the smelters. The research team included Jonathan Kotch, MD, MPH, professor,… Read more »

March 3, 2014 The Gillings School of Global Public Health community gathered in the Armfield Atrium on Feb. 24 to celebrate eight faculty members – one from each academic unit at the School – who were selected by their students to receive the School’s third annual Teaching Innovation Awards. Awardees included Steve Cole, PhD  (epidemiology),… Read more »

On February 2, 2014, what has become one of the largest coal ash spills in the nation’s history started in Eden, NC, at a Duke Energy containment pond on the banks of the Dan River. By the time the spill was stopped, between 50,000 and 80,000 tons of toxic coal ash had spilled into the… Read more »