A pilot study with Rutgers toxicologists investigated how large-scale copper extraction in Peru may increase the risk of heavy metal exposures in indigenous communities. The study team is comprised of Rutgers faculty members Zorimar Rivera-Núñez and Cathleen Doherty, recent and current Rutgers PhD students Jeremy Lessing, Sean Stratton, and Joyce Lu, and outside collaborators Adela Zhang and Claudio Portugal. They implemented a community-based participatory research framework that integrated local Quechua-speaking residents into the scientific process, utilizing their geographic expertise to identify high-risk sampling sites near the copper mine. Technical analysis with field-based PXRF and lab-based ICP-MS revealed widespread lead contamination in dust, and more sporadic soil and water contamination with additional heavy metals. The team returned to the field in Spring 2026 to collect additional targeted samples with the goals of confirming these pilot results and determining possible sources of contamination.
