Food Safety and Environmental Stewardship Program

Epidemiological studies linking environmental exposures to health outcomes have been criticized for the lack of personal exposure data. The mobile exposure device (MED) is integrated personal environmental exposure tools coupled with software which links health data to location and chemical exposure. The MED combines a wristband passive sampling device with a smart phone application and biometric equipment providing a holistic tool to capture uniquely linked environmental-health information.  Silicone passive sampling wristbands sequester organic compounds while a cell phone application captures geographic location of study participants. Users were prompted to test lung function with a spirometer three times daily to identify variation in lung function throughout a typical daily routine.  Wristbands were worn daily then mailed to the laboratory, extracted, and analyzed for over 1,200 organic compounds including PAHs, OPAHs, PCBs, pesticides, flame retardants and industrial chemicals. Data is transmitted securely from a laboratory information management system and the smart phone app to a secure server through web services and integrated in order to discover statistical relationships among air pollutants, locations, and lung function. The MED was developed and tested in two different exposure scenarios, one community in Oregon with proximity to intense industrial activity, and another community in Ohio near unconventional natural gas drilling operations. Focus group meetings were employed in both communities to further enhance and optimize the MED. Early beta testing resulted in a daily accumulation of over 600,000 data points including geographic location, lung function, and chemical observations for each participant. The MED coupled with data integration and visualization techniques will enable researchers  to gain new insights and investigate new connections, while allowing communities to see their data in more intuitive ways.