Reporting Individual Exposure Results

Environmental studies are more precise now than ever, documenting unique personal exposure to toxics in addition to general community results. At the same time, researchers face uncertainty about the individual health impact of contaminants and effective strategies to reduce exposure. How do researchers and participants manage this gap between information and impact? How can reporting individual results support participants’ empowerment rather than provoke fear?

Silent Spring Institute supports an ethics of engagement based on the belief that participants have a right to know their personal information, and that even uncertain results can prove useful and empowering. Our current research addresses the impact of individual report-back and barriers to its implementation, such as cultural differences, variations in language and science literacy levels, the challenges of highlighting what’s most important when reporting results for many different chemicals, and the need for streamlined methods to create personalized reports in large studies.

Building on our strong foundation of innovative research in service of community and action, we continue to investigate the relationship between receiving personal exposure results and a participant’s plans to learn about environmental chemicals, share information, and take action individually and collectively to reduce exposure.

Learn more:

• DERBI: Silent Spring's interactive web-based tool that automates the production of personalized reports
• Bibliography: Publications by Silent Spring and others on the report-back of personal environmental exposures