What We Are Doing

The National EPA-Tribal Science Council currently is involved in a number of activities, which include conducting and sponsoring workshops, developing documents on science information, and holding monthly conference calls. Much of the TSC's work is done in the context of the unique impacts faced by tribes because of their traditional or subsistence lifeways.

TSC documents accomplished to date:

• National Tribal Science Priorities (April 2006) (PDF, 24pp., 520KB)
• Paper on Tribal Issues Related to Tribal Traditional Lifeways, Risk Assessment, and Health & Well Being: Documenting What We've Heard (April 2006) (PDF, 28pp., 372KB)

Workshops accomplished to date:

• Endocrine Disruptors Workshop (PDF, 7pp., 169KB)
• Risk Assessment and Health & Well Being Workshop (PDF, 23pp., 337KB)
• Workshop on Health & Well Being and Traditional Tribal Lifeways (PDF, 30pp., 522KB)

Subcommittees have been formed to:

• Identify more culturally appropriate risk assessment models and explore a new Health and Well Being Paradigm for assessing the health of communities;
• Improve tribal quality assurance programs; and
• Address issues surrounding access to tribal data and information.

Other science issues that the TSC will be addressing in the coming years include:

• Exploring the state of science at the Agency on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs);
• Supporting the release and implementation of EPA's dioxin reassessment and reference dose; and
• Identifying ongoing work at the Agency on chemical mixtures and cumulative impacts and promoting increased research in this area.
• Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxics Source Reduction
• Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care products in Wastewater (including antibiotics in livestock product)
• Habitat Loss
• Environmental Triggers for respiratory distress (including mold)
• Contaminated Precipitation
• Tribal Research (including global warming and climate change)