Human Health Effects Research Program
Vulnerable Populations
The Great Lakes Human Health Effects Research Program (GLHHERP) has identified several
human populations who may be at particular risk because of
greatest exposure to Great 
Lakes
pollutants via fish consumption. Such predisposition to
toxic injury in these populations can be due to
behavior (e.g., degree of contaminated fish consumption),
nutritional status, physiology (e.g., developing fetuses),
or other factors. These vulnerable populations include
subsistence anglers, American Indians, Asian Americans,
pregnant women, fetuses, nursing infants whose mothers
consume contaminated Great Lakes sport fish (GLSF), young
children, the elderly, the urban poor, and those with
compromised immune function (Tryphonas,1995;
Weisglas-Kuperus et al.,1995).
