Ore. tribal health experts worry over native foods
Specialists fear changes in climate will affect traditional foods
Monday, September 29, 2008 10:41 AM PDT
PENDLETON (AP) — Environmental health specialists at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla say climate change could threaten the health of tribal members by changes made in traditional foods that have grown naturally and wild for centuries
‘‘Our biggest vulnerabilities are likely to be energy, water and agricultural practices,’’ said Stuart Harris, director of the confederation’s science and engineering department. ‘‘We don’t know how weather patterns will change locally. We do anticipate more rain and less snow in winter, decreasing snowpack, earlier spring freshet. This could provide new breeding grounds for mosquitoes. We might see biological blooms — algae, insects, weeds, pollen — of unprecedented magnitude.’’
His concern is keeping traditional native foods clean and unchanged for the future. Climate changes could change traditional foods such as salmon, huckleberries and roots.
‘‘We have a responsibility to guarantee a plentiful supply of clean food and water for our children. I am concerned that with increasing temperature we will see an increasing burden of toxic chemicals in food, water and fish that our children eat,’’ Harris said.
Barbara Harper, the tribes’ environmental health program manager, has worked with Harris on tribal environmental health issues for more than a decade.
‘‘Health effects are almost all multifactorial and have many contributing causes,’’ she said.
Proving that health problems are caused by climate change will be difficult, she said.
‘‘However,’’ she said, ‘‘we can predict impacts, collect data and we can implement plans for responding to potential threats. If they don’t come to pass, we will still be better off by having studied the issues.’’
Both worry that clean drinking water is taken for granted.
‘‘Water availability — groundwater and river water — may be at their limits ... it may be more vulnerable than we think it is,’’ Harper said.
‘‘The American idea that people can come here and drill more wells is unsustainable,’’ he said. ‘‘The threat of population migration to our lands and waters is very real.’’
Harper said his concerns are led by temperature-related illness, and the health effects of extreme weather, air pollution, pollens and allergens and food or waterborne illness. He cited Environmental Protection Agency predictions that warming may jeopardize the reliable supply of electricity.
