Linkages between human health and ocean health: a participatory climate change vulnerability assessment for marine mammal harvesters.
(12/13)
BACKGROUND: Indigenous residents of Alaska's Bering Strait Region depend, both culturally and nutritionally, on ice seal and walrus harvests. Currently, climate change and resultant increases in marine industrial development threaten these species and the cultures that depend on them. OBJECTIVE: To document: (a) local descriptions of the importance of marine mammal hunting; (b) traditional methods for determining if harvested marine mammals are safe to consume; and (c) marine mammal outcomes that would have adverse effects on community health, the perceived causes of these outcomes, strategies for preventing these outcomes and community adaptations to outcomes that cannot be mitigated. DESIGN: Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 82 indigenous hunters and elders from the Bering Strait region. Standard qualitative analysis was conducted on interview transcripts, which were coded for both inductive and deductive codes. Responses describing marine mammal food safety and importance are presented using inductively generated categories. Responses describing negative marine mammal outcomes are presented in a vulnerability framework, which links human health outcomes to marine conditions. RESULTS: Project participants perceived that shipping noise and pollution, as well as marine mammal food source depletion by industrial fishing, posed the greatest threats to marine mammal hunting traditions. Proposed adaptations primarily fell into 2 categories: (a) greater tribal influence over marine policy; and (b) documentation of traditional knowledge for local use. This paper presents 1 example of documenting traditional knowledge as an adaptation strategy: traditional methods for determining if marine mammal food is safe to eat. CONCLUSIONS: Participant recommendations indicate that 1 strategy to promote rural Alaskan adaptation to climate change is to better incorporate local knowledge and values into decision-making processes. Participant interest in documenting traditional knowledge for local use also indicates that funding agencies could support climate change adaptation by awarding more grants for tribal research that advances local, rather than academic, use of traditional knowledge. (+info)
Trichinellosis in the United States, 1991-1996: declining but not gone.
(13/13)
Since the U.S. Public Health Service began recording statistics on trichinellosis in 1947, the number of cases reported by state health departments has decreased steadily. In the late 1940s, health departments reported an average of 400 cases and 10-15 deaths each year. From 1991 to 1996, the period covered in this report, three deaths in 230 cases were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (an average of 38 cases per year), including 14 multiple case outbreaks from 31 states and Washington, DC. Information on the suspected food item was available for 134 (58%) of the 230 reported cases. Pork was implicated in 80 (60%) cases, bear meat in 31 (23%), walrus meat in 13 (10%), and cougar meat in 10 (7%). Sausage was the most frequently implicated pork product (i.e., 57 of the 64 cases for which the form of the pork product was identified). The proportion of trichinellosis cases attributable to consumption of commercial pork continued to decrease; this decrease was probably due to a combination of factors, including the continued reduction in the prevalence of Trichinella spiralis in domestic swine, the increased use of home freezers, and the practice of thoroughly cooking pork. As a proportion of all cases reported, those associated with wild game meat products has increased; however, the absolute numbers of such cases have remained similar at approximately 9-12 per year. The continued multiple case outbreaks and the identification of nonpork sources of infection indicate the need for further education and control measures. (+info)