Environmental Health

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has actively pursued a role in the California - Mexico border and the public health issues associated with chemical contamination along our shared boundary. Staff has represented OEHHA and Cal/EPA at various regulatory and public health conferences and symposia.

The Border Affairs Unit in conjunction with the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) operates the FRONTERA (For Region’s Overt Need of Training and Education in Risk Assessment) Project. The project serves low-income Spanish-speaking communities on both sides of the border. The FRONTERA Project provides training to local agencies and community groups on the recognition of environmental health threats and technical advice on how to minimize such threats.

The Border Affairs Unit and OEHHA conduct training on toxicology and risk assessment and provide information on the health risks of various chemicals to Baja California government. Guides to health risk assessment for use in these training sessions are translated into Spanish. The Project also develops special Spanish-language train-the-trainer materials to support the outreach programs for community health workers in the border region.

The Border Affairs Unit and OEHHA have worked with border community groups, along with the Department of Health Services, to sample candies that are popular among the Latino populations in the border region and that may be contaminated with lead. This work ultimately resulted in a lawsuit by the California Attorney General against Mexican candy manufacturers who may be in violation of Proposition 65 labeling requirements for lead content in their products.

The Border Affairs Unit and OEHHA, along with the Air Resources Board (ARB), participate in the Imperial County/Mexicali Clean Air Stakeholders Group and has advised the County of Imperial on health effects related to the installation of power plants in Mexicali.

The Border Affairs Unit and OEHHA also participate in the Barrio Logan Toxics Monitoring Project, one of nine Federal Interagency Environmental Justice Demonstration Projects. OEHHA assisted ARB in implementing public outreach activities for its Neighborhood Assessment Program when its air monitoring in Barrio Logan found high ambient concentrations of hexavalent chromium (chromium VI) near a chrome-plating shop.

The Border Affairs Unit and OEHHA provide periodic training to physicians on proper recognition and reporting of pesticide-related illness, in the border counties of San Diego and Imperial, and has assisted the State of Baja California in implementing similar training to meet the needs of its physicians. In addition, the BAU and OEHHA, along with the Department of Pesticide Regulation participate in the San Diego County's Farm worker Health Initiative.