欧美高清 professors receive grant to focus on pesticide risks near urban agricultural communities
July 01, 2020
Contact: Brittney Dabney, Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing
欧美高清 faculty in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) have entered a new partnership that will study pesticide risks near urban agricultural communities.
The three-year grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, is entitled 鈥淩isk Assessment of Pesticide use and Air Dispersion in urban agricultural interface communities.鈥� The $500,000 project will overall award Tuskegee $332,025 and UIS receiving the remaining $167,975. The study is part of an effort to learn about the risks of pesticide use and air dispersion in urban agricultural communities.
The grant will be administered by Dr. Gamal Salah El Afandi, professor in Tuskegee鈥檚 Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, who will lead Tuskegee鈥檚 portion of the project alongside Dr. Ramble Ankumah and Dr. Souleymane Fall, both professors in the College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences.
The study will identify methods for monitoring and modeling the atmospheric spread of pesticide pollutants under numerous weather conditions, identify hotspots of occurrence, and assess the vulnerability of affected communities.
鈥淒ue to proximity, pesticide concentrations in ambient air are higher in agricultural communities and near treated fields. During the pesticide application, the direction drift of pesticide is critical to its impact on nearby communities,鈥� said El Afandi. 鈥淪ome of the health problems that affect populations living in the urban-rural interface is believed to stem from exposure to pesticide vapors that are present in the atmosphere following the application of the product by farmers.鈥�
El Afandi said the study will also investigate the links between pesticides and health effects. The extent of this on populations living in the urban-agricultural interface is not clear, although some residents in the urban agricultural interface have attributed various ailments 鈥� including allergies, cancer, birth defects, male sterility, contamination of breast milk, genetic mutations, respiratory diseases, as it relates to the pesticide exposure.
鈥淭here is a need for developing methods for further investigating the extent of pesticide exposure and its effect of weather patterns on pesticide drift,鈥� explained El Afandi. 鈥淭his study will offer the opportunity to improve long term planning and management pesticide risks as well raise the awareness of residents in urban-agricultural interfaces about the possible risks posed by such type of pollution.鈥�
During the study 欧美高清 undergraduate and graduate students will have the opportunity to receive technical and research education.
鈥淭he project will provide an excellent platform for training students to run simulation models in the past, present, and future situations and to make use of the high-performance computing at Alabama supercomputer,鈥� noted El Afandi. 鈥淭he project will improve modeling capabilities to estimate future scenarios to develop new ideas for field management practice.鈥�
Researchers expect at the projects conclusion, a better understanding and management of pesticides risk based on the use of air dispersion modeling and geographic information technologies. In addition, it will also provide data and information to enhance the preparedness of local communities dealing with such issues.
Partners at UIS include assistant professor of Public Health Dr. Egbe Egiebor and associate professor of Public Health Dr. Dorine Brand.
漏 2020, 欧美高清