Recognizing that environmental health impacts involve interaction among stress and risk factors from multiple domains – including chemical/environmental, social/economic/behavioral, biological/genetic, and physical/neighborhood conditions – regulators, industry, and communities are advocating or requiring that Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) be applied to environmental planning and decision-making. The U.S. EPA explains CIA as the process of accounting for cumulative impacts considering exposures to both chemical and nonchemical stressors at each life stage throughout the life course.
ToxStrategies has evaluated, developed, and applied best available science for cumulative impact assessments that support evidence-based interventions focused on improving community health. Because there is no one-size-fits-all approach to CIA, our approach is adaptable across project types, communities, and decision contexts. It is streamlined and facilitates multi-stakeholder/multi-disciplinary collaboration. Related areas where we have experience and capabilities include the following:
Using Federal and State CIA Tools, Rules, and Guidance
Stakeholder Collaboration Planning and Facilitation
Establishing a collaborative group to provide input to planning and decisions
- Assist with identification/selection of multi-disciplinary/multi-stakeholder group
- Developing collaboration, consensus, and accountability processes
Problem Formulation
Defining goals, decision context, people, place, and priority concerns
- Clarifying decision context and limitations
- Identification and characterization of potentially exposed and vulnerable communities
- Fit-for-purpose design focused on key stressors and impacts of concern
Visualization
Facilitating collaborative visualization of associations between stressors and impacts
- Conceptual model development / Directed Acyclic Graphs
- Development and use of Interactive Visualization tools
Evidence- and Data- Driven Assessment
Characterizing strength of causal associations between key stressors and priority health impacts
- Systematic Reviews of related literature for quality of evidence
- Epidemiological studies
- Strength of evidence evaluation
- Cumulative Risk Assessment (CRA) – multiple chemicals, mixtures, endpoints
Exposure Assessment and Source Allocation
Characterizing chemical and non-chemical stressor exposure levels and sources
- Background, historical, life-stage exposures, co-exposures
- Unique population group exposure scenarios and factors
- Allocation of stressor exposures to multiple sources
Focused Action Plan Development
Targeting stressors that can be modified for the best potential for improving health
- Feasibility Studies
- Cost-Benefit Analysis
- Life Cycle Impacts Assessment