Environmental Health Council Related Publications

The Environmental Health Council is an international, interdisciplinary, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to identifying, evaluating and remediating the effects of environmental toxins in affected communities. By examining specific environmental health issues from distinct perspectives, the Council develops innovative, integrated, interdisciplinary, measurable, mutually reinforcing, culturally relevant and feasible strategies and programs to reduce community exposures to environmental toxins and improve their health and quality of life.

The Council reflects decades of experience of its members who represent diverse fields, including but not limited to, air quality and modeling, public health, health risk assessment, geochemistry, epidemiology, medicine, biostatistics, ecology, geology, anthropology, community development, human rights, law and ethnohistory. Uniting experts from such diverse fields allows for the synergies, innovations and insights which such interdisciplinary approaches foster.

For a more information on the EHC, please click here.

Publications:

• Thoms, B., N.A. Robins, W.E. Brooks; E. Ecos, R. D. Espinoza Gonzales. Mercury Contamination in Huancavelica, Peru: Community Engagement to Support Assessment and Remediation. Poster Presentation at the International Conference of Mercury as a Global Pollutant. July, 2017.

Robins, N. Santa Bárbara’s Legacy: An Environmental History of Huancavelica, Peru. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2017.

• Published in Spanish as La herencia de Santa Bárbara: Una historia ambiental de Huancavelica, Perú. Huancavelica, Peru: Universidad Nacional de Huancavelica, 2017.

• Amos, Helen; Sonke, Jeroen; Obrist, Daniel; Robins, Nicholas; Hagan, Nicole; Horowitz, Hannah; Mason, Robert; Witt, Melanie; Corbitt, Elizabeth; Sunderland, Elsie. “Global anthropogenic enrichment of mercury and implications for future environmental concentrations.” Environmental Science and Technology. Vol. 49, No. 7 (March, 2015), 4036–4047. DOI: 10.1021/es5058665

• Hagan N, Robins N, Hsu-Kim H, Halabi S, Espinoza Gonzales RD, Ecos E, et al. “Mercury hair levels and factors that influence exposure for residents of Huancavelica, Peru.” Environmental Geochemistry and Health. Vol. 36, No. 6 (December, 2014). doi: 10.1007/s10653-014-9665-9

• Hagan N, Robins N, Espinoza Gonzales RD, Hsu-Kim H. “Speciation and bioaccessibility of mercury in adobe bricks and dirt floors in Huancavelica, Peru.” Environmental Geochemistry and Health Vol. 36, No. 4 (August, 2014). DOI 10.1007/s10653-014-9644-1

• Hagan N, Robins N, Hsu-Kim H, Halabi S, Espinoza Gonzales RD, et al. (2013) “Residential Mercury Contamination in Adobe Brick Homes in Huancavelica, Peru.” PLoS ONE Vol. 8 No. 9. (September, 2013) doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075179.

• Robins, Nicholas and Nicole Hagan, “Mercury production and use in colonial Andean silver production: emissions and health implications.” Environmental Health Perspectives 2012; 120(5):627-631.

• Robins, N.A., N. Hagan, S. Halabi, H. Hsu-Kim, R.D. Espinoza Gonzales, M. Morris, G. Woodall, D. Richter, P. Heine, T. Zhang, A. Bacon, and J. Vandenberg. “Estimations of Historical Atmospheric Mercury Concentrations from Mercury Refining and Present-Day Soil Concentrations of Total Mercury in Huancavelica Peru.” Science of the Total Environment. Vol. 426, No. 11 (June, 2012):146-154. 2012. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.03.082

• Robins, N. Mercury, Mining and Empire: The Human and Ecological Cost of Colonial Silver Mining in the Andes. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011.

Published in Spanish as Mercurio, Minerίa y Imperio: El costo humano y ecológico de la minerίa de plata colonial en los Andes. Huancavelica: Universidad Nacional de Huancavelica, 2011.

Conference Presentations:

• Thoms, B., N.A. Robins, W.E. Brooks; E. Ecos, R. D. Espinoza Gonzales. “Mercury Contamination in Huancavelica, Peru: Community Engagement to Support Assessment and Remediation.” Poster Presentation at the International Conference of Mercury as a Global Pollutant. July, 2017.

• Hagan, N, N. Robins, H. Hsu-Kim, S. Halabi, R.D. Espinoza Gonzales, E. Ecos, D. Richter, J. Vandenberg. “Residential Mercury Contamination in Huancavelica, Peru.” Poster Presentation at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) meeting, November, 2013.

• Hagan N, Robins N, Hsu-Kim H, Vandenberg J. “Get Your Hands Out of Your Mouth! Implications from ingestion of Hg-contaminated particles in adobe brick homes in Huancavelica, Peru.” Poster presentation. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, November 2013.

• Robins, N, N. Hagan, S. Halabi, H. Hsu-Kim, R. D. Espinoza Gonzales, D. Richter, J. Vandenberg. “Mercury, Mining and the Ecological Legacy of Empire: Huancavelica, Peru.” Oral Presentation at Geological Society of America Conference, October, 2013.

• Hagan, N, N. Robins, H. Hsu-Kim, J. Vandenberg and D. Leith. “Mercury speciation and bioaccessibility from adobe bricks and dirt floors in Huancavelica, Peru.” Poster presentation at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) conference, November, 2012.

• Robins, N, N. Hagan, S. Halabi, H. Hsu-Kim, R. Dario Espinoza Gonzales, D. Richter, and J. Vandenberg. “Evaluation of residential exposure to historical mercury contamination in Huancavelica, Peru.” Oral presentation at the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant, July 2011.

• Hagan, N, N. Robins, H. Hsu-Kim, S. Halabi, M. Morris, G. Woodall, D. Richter, and J. Vandenberg. Estimation of historical Exposure to Elemental Mercury Vapor and Present-Day Exposure to Mercury and Other Metals in Huancavelica, Peru, and Potosí, Bolivia. Oral presentation at the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant, July 2011.

• Hagan, N., N. Robins, H. Hsu-Kim, M. Morris, G. Woodall, S. Halabi, A. Bacon, D. Richter, and J. Vandenberg. “Legacies of Mercury Production and Use in the Andes: The Cases of Huancavelica and Potosí.” Poster presentation at the Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting, December 2010. (Recipient of “Best Poster” award)

• Robins, N. and N. Hagan. “Mercury Mining and Use in Colonial Andean Silver Production: Emissions and Health Implications.” Symposium at the Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting, December 2010.

• “Una Toxina Tenaz: La herencia de la minerίa de mercurio en Huancavelica.” Presentation to staff of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Peru. August 13, 2010.

• Hagan, N., N. Robins, M. Morris, G. Woodall, D. Richter, and J. Vandenberg. A Lasting Legacy: Using AERMOD to Estimate Historical Atmospheric Concentrations of Mercury from Silver Mining in Potosi, Bolivia. Poster presentation at the American Association for Aerosol Research Specialty Conference, March, 2010.