Launching a fish consumption and body burden study among Native Americans, Hispanics, and Micronesians

The purpose of this presentation is to describe our approaches to engage three distinct ethnic groups, Native Americans, Hispanics, and Micronesians, in the design of a study to determine methylmercury exposure among subsistence fishers in northeastern Oklahoma. We will describe the use of focus groups as a strategy for a) incorporating information about the types of fish consumed, cooking techniques and other practices in order to develop a more culturally appropriate food frequency questionnaire; and b) for understanding their cultural perspectives and attitudes toward health effects arising from potential environmental contamination in order to ensure that the materials we develop to communicate risk and summarize our study results address their cultural perspectives in appropriate formats and media. In this rural locale, social justice is only served if minority and immigrant populations have the same opportunity to meet their needs for healthy food as their peers who do not have to, or do not choose to, subsistence fish; the same opportunity to learn about health risks as those who read and speak English; and an opportunity to use solid evidence to advocate for their own health if their body burden (in this case, of methylmercury) is higher than that of local non-minority populations. When traditional practices conflict with health promotion (e.g., fish consumption advisories), it is necessary to engage in dialogue around the social and cultural issues, not only to find effective ways to promote health, but also to preserve time-honored cultural traditions and bonds.