University of Iowa researchers announced Wednesday a new research program focused on understanding how environmental exposures affect human health.
The Iowa Integrated Network for Science, Information, and Geospatial Health Tracking (INSIGHT) is a partnership between the UI’s Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination and IIHR Hydroscience and Engineering department.
"This program will produce scientific evidence needed to understand how environmental exposures affect human health, from the air that we breathe to the water that we drink," said Larry Weber, director of IIHR, at a press conference.
Iowa INSIGHT will launch on July 1. It will be a five-year project that costs around $10 million, Weber said.
Half of the project will be funded through a $5 million donation from the Kyle J. and Sharon Krause Family Foundation. Researchers will have to raise the remaining $5 million to complete their project, but they have already received donations from other charitable organizations, he said.
The project has four main focus areas: expanding environmental monitoring for factors like nitrate and PFAS, developing biomonitoring to track exposure in people's bodies, conducting epidemiological studies and spreading information through community education and engagement.
Educating the public and providing information on findings is an important part of the project, said David Cwiertny, director of the Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination.
"We want people to understand their environmental vulnerabilities, so they can actually take action or talk to their representatives and figure out how to address it, and not just engage in conversations that may not be relevant to them or their community," he said.
Iowa INSIGHT comes as Iowans have growing concerns about the state's high cancer rates and how environment contaminants, like nitrates in water, may be affecting their health, Weber said.
"As you look at the water quality — and nitrate is only one analyte that we're interested in — but the nitrate concentrations and loads have continued to rise in Iowa. We're on track for this year to be the highest nitrate load leaving the state of Iowa on record," he said.
