Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Environmental and Public Health Volume 2012, Article ID 674596, 10 pages doi:10.1155/2012/674596 Research Article Community-Led Assessment of Risk from Exposure to Mercury by Native Amerindian Wayana in Southeast Suriname Daniel Peplow1, 2 and Sarah Augustine1 1 Suriname Indigenous Health Fund, International Humanities Center, White Swan, WA 98952, USA 2 College of the Environment, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Daniel Peplow,
[email protected] Received 16 May 2011; Revised 12 September 2011; Accepted 21 September 2011 Academic Editor: Rainer Schulin Copyright © 2012 D. Peplow and S. Augustine. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This study was a collaboration between Western public health researchers and Suriname indigenous communities. The question asked was “how can Western researchers effectively engage traditional indigenous communities in Suriname, South America, in public health research”. The approach used a combination of Participatory Action Research methods in which “Western” researchers became participating observers in an indigenous-led research initiative. The Wayana communities of Puleowime (Apetina) and Kawemhakan (Anapayke) defined a single objective: determine for themselves whether they are at risk from exposure to mercury (Hg) contamination. Community members collected hair samples for analysis. Hair samples were analyzed using a portable Hg analyzer. Individual, community and hazard quotient indices were used to quantify risk. Results showed the Wayana were at a high lifetime risk of adverse effects from exposure to Hg.