Environmental Health Professor Richard Clapp and doctoral candidate Madeleine Scammell recently led a workshop in Claremont, New Hampshire, which addressed the need for health studies to address community concerns where toxins may be present. They addressed a possible link between cancer and other medical conditions with regard to exposure to emissions from a solid waste incinerator located in Claremont.  Members of Citizens Leading for Environmental Action and Responsibility (CLEAR) and area clinicians participated in the meeting. Molly Jacobs, a BUSPH (MPH ‘00) also participated in the workshop.  Jacobs works with Clapp at the Environmental Health Initiative at UMASS Lowell's Center for Sustainable Production.

The workshop was organized at CLEAR's request by Toxics Action Center, an organization that assists community groups with environmental health concerns throughout New England and the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice (CHEJ). Both organizations are partners of the Boston University Superfund Basic Research Program's Community Outreach and Research Translation Cores. The Superfund Basic Research Program includes nine basic research programs at BUSPH, BU Charles River Campus and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. All research involves chemicals commonly encountered at Superfund sites. Environmental Health Professor David Ozonoff is the Principal Investigator of the BU Superfund program that is managed by the Department of Environmental Health.