
Bhavna ShamasunderOccidental College · Department of Urban and Environmental Policy
Bhavna Shamasunder
Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, PhD
About
33
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Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Publications
Publications (33)
Background
In early October 2021, thousands of residents in Carson, California began complaining of malodors and headaches. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a noxious odorous gas, was measured at concentrations up to 7000 parts per billion (ppb) and remained above California’s acute air quality standard of 30 ppb for a month. Intermittent elevations of H2S...
Background
In early October 2021, thousands of residents in Carson, California began complaining of malodors and headaches. The odor was identified as hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a noxious odorous gas. H2S was measured at concentrations up to 7000 parts per billion (ppb) and remained above California’s acute air quality standard of 30 ppb for a month,...
Introduction
United States consumers spend over two billion dollars a year on intimate care products. These products, along with scented menstrual products, are marketed for odor control, perceived “freshness,” and vaginal/vulvar cleanliness. However, these scent-altering products may increase exposure to carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting chemi...
Background:
Personal care products are a notable source of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Racial/ethnic differences in the use of hair products containing EDCs are reported, with women and children of color more commonly using hair products that are hormonally active and contain EDCs than other racial/ethnic groups. There is li...
Background
Although ~18 million people live within a mile from active oil and gas development (OGD) sites in the United States, epidemiological research on how OGD affects the health of nearby urban residents is sparse. Thousands of OGD sites are spread across Los Angeles (LA) County, California, home to the largest urban oil production in the coun...
Objectives. To examine patterns of cumulative environmental injustice with respect to operations of urban oil and gas development in Los Angeles County, California.
Methods. Using CalEnviroScreen (CES) 4.0, oil and gas data permit records, and US census data, we examined the association between CES score (grouped into equal quintiles, with the lowe...
The disproportionate use of chemical straighteners and skin lighteners by women of color is a growing public health concern given the link between product use and adverse health effects. Prior studies examined product use as an individual choice but neglected social-structural factors, which influence beauty perceptions and personal decisions aroun...
Background
Understanding, characterizing, and quantifying human exposures to environmental chemicals is critical to protect public health. Exposure assessments are key to determining risks to the general population and for specific subpopulations given that exposures differ between groups. Exposure data are also important for understanding where in...
The manufacture and production of industrial chemicals continues to increase, with hundreds of thousands of chemicals and chemical mixtures used worldwide, leading to widespread population exposures and resultant health impacts. Low-wealth communities and communities of color often bear disproportionate burdens of exposure and impact; all compounde...
Low-income communities and communities of color face multiple, cumulative environmental and social burdens. Methods development in environmental justice research has largely focused on spatial and quantitative approaches. Less attention has been paid to developing methodologies that help collect information on everyday stressors and quality of life...
With growing evidence of widespread health and environmental impacts from oil and gas activity, localities and states are beginning to develop protective measures. Interdisciplinary approaches that integrate across human, wildlife, domesticated animal, and land health are likely to provide more just and comprehensive solutions than would be possibl...
Background
Personal care product use may contribute to elevated body burdens of consumer product chemicals among women of color; however, racial/ethnic differences in product use has been understudied. Community-engaged research can support the recruitment of diverse participants.
Objective
To document personal care product use among a diverse gro...
Background:
Modern oil development frequently occurs in close proximity to human populations. Los Angeles, California is home to the largest urban oil field in the country with thousands of active oil and gas wells in very close proximity to homes, schools and parks, yet little is known about potential health impacts. The neighborhoods along the L...
In this work, we investigate air pollutant distance decay gradients around an upstream oil and natural gas (ONG) facility located within a densely populated urban community in South Los Angeles. Despite the difficulties associated with interpreting air quality measurements in complex, multi-source urban environments, this pilot investigation was ab...
Oilfield-adjacent communities often report symptoms such as headaches and/or asthma. Yet, little data exists on health experiences and exposures in urban environments with oil and gas development. In partnership with Promotoras de Salud (community health workers), we gathered household surveys nearby two oil production sites in Los Angeles. We test...
The obstetrics-gynecology community has issued a call to action to prevent toxic environmental chemical exposures and their threats to healthy human reproduction. Recent committee opinions recognize that vulnerable and underserved women may be impacted disproportionately by environmental chemical exposures and recommend that reproductive health pro...
Residential gardens have been understudied as spaces for community building, health, housing improvement, and environmental justice. While research in the environmental justice and food justice literatures have focused primarily on community gardens, there continues to be a dearth of research and understanding of the benefits and potential challeng...
Biomonitoring has chronicled hundreds of synthetic chemicals in human bodies. With the proliferation of biomonitoring studies from diverse stakeholders comes the need to better understand the public health consequences of synthetic chemical exposures. Fundamental disagreements among scientific experts as to the nature and purpose of biomonitoring d...
Report to Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Equity-Based (Environmental Justice-related) Climate Adaptation Metrics for Metro
Racial or ethnic minority groups and low-income communities have poorer health outcomes than others. They are more frequently exposed to multiple environmental hazards and social stressors, including poverty, poor housing quality, and social inequality. Researchers are grappling with how best to characterize the cumulative effects of these hazards...
Researchers in environmental justice contend that low-income communities and communities of color face greater impacts from environmental hazards. This is also of concern for policy makers. In this context, our paper has two principal objectives. First, we propose a method for creating an index capable of summarizing racial-ethnic and socioeconomic...
In Reply
As we noted in our article, CIBA-Geigy became Novartis on March 7, 1996, and the industry documents on the marketing of Habitrol were dated earlier. The tobacco industry documents released in the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement contain relatively little information on JT. We thank Dr Kawane for sharing the example regarding JT. His letter...
Corporate diversification allows for well-hidden financial ties between pharmaceutical and tobacco companies, which can cause a conflict of interest in the development and marketing of pharmaceutical products. In our investigation of tobacco company documents released and posted on the Internet as a result of the Master Settlement Agreement, we hav...
Brownfields issues are significant points of advocacy and activism for creating substantial social change in low-income communitites. The authors identify key environmental justice issues present in the brownfields debate; provide an overview of existing laws, regulations, and policies that are currently in place to address brownfields contaminatio...