My name is Molly Kile, I’m an assistant professor in the College of Public Health
and Human Sciences at Oregon State University.
My major focus is in the Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety track.
I first began traveling to Bangladesh about 10 years ago when I was a doctoral student.
My project at the time was looking at arsenic exposure and cancer outcomes in an epidemiological
study and the first time I went I was hooked.
It was just a real world experience.
It was an opportunity where I got to see the theory match up with the needs of the people
in the communities and the magnitude of the problem was just incredibly moving, but also
it was an opportunity to really do public health on the front lines.
Arsenic is very common in the ground water in Bangladesh.
This became known unfortunately after people had switched the population from surface water
to ground water to help reduce the incidences of water born disease, so it really is a public
health message that we need to take to heart because this was completely preventable.
As an environmental epidemiologist, my concern really is in examining chemicals in the exposure
that we regulate.
So it’s about identifying the hazards in the environment, and then doing studies that
help us inform risk assessment and establish evidence-based policy and regulation regarding
those chemicals.
So I was assigned arsenic actually as a doctoral student, it was an opportunity that was funded
at my old school, so I took it.
Little did I know that it was going to become a lifelong interest and passion.
Arsenic is a chemical, it’s a known human carcinogen but there’s much more work that’s
needed to be done on non-cancer related health outcomes.
So that was a call by the National Academy of Science about 10 years ago, and we answered
that call.
Our research efforts are all funded by the U.S. National Institute of Health because
we are studying some of the basic human health risks associated with arsenic.
So I typically go to Bangladesh one or more times per year, we do work very closely and
couldn’t do this work without our collaborators there at Dhaka Community Hospital.
My role in these projects has really been to help design the scientific studies, establish
the methodology and go over to Bangladesh and train the physicians and the community
health care workers at Dhaka Community Hospital to conduct the science.
I first started doing just the arsenic exposure aspect, trying to figure out how people are
being exposed to arsenic, how much was in the water, how much was in the food, and then
trying to find good biomarkers in people so that we can do quantitative, molecular, epidemiological
studies.
That work then grew into more complicated epidemiological studies and we started doing
large birth cohorts, looking at reproductive health outcomes, the effects of arsenic on
both the mother and their children since that was a concern of the community and it’s
also an ability to do science that really pushes the forefront and answers the needs
about arsenic-related toxicity.
The studies then grew further and we’ve been able to follow those children up, looking
at their neurodevelopmental assessments with collaborations both with Oregon State University,
Dhaka Community Hospital and Harvard School of Public Health.
Our research has also grown into examining some of the epigenetic effects of in utero
arsenic exposure, which is some of the work that I’ve been leading and we’re always
looking for additional opportunities to do other studies that are needed both in Bangladesh
and that inform arsenic-related health research.
A lot of my time in Bangladesh is spent traveling and walking through the villages that are
affected by arsenic poisoning.
And when I do, I see people that have the skin lesions, and they come and talk to me
and they express their concerns and their willingness to participate in research because
they want to understand what the health effects are and they help want to contribute to a
greater understanding of science.
So I think really the people of Bangladesh are my inspiration.
They’re the ones who are affected and yet are so generous in participating in our studies.
What I hope my research does is really provide the evidence that we need to make sound, environmental
health decisions.
I hope that my research informs the drinking water standards so that we truly are protective
of all the population including unborn children.
I think it’s important to share the lessons that I’ve learned in Bangladesh with students
at Oregon State University because it really doesn’t get more real.
Students are very interested in doing water-related health studies, and they tend to focus all
on the infectious diseases and that’s what’s got us into the problem in Bangladesh.
People only looked at the infectious diseases and they never tested the water for arsenic,
so it really is an example of the need for people who want to do international health
to look at the whole problem before they start to do interventions.
The arsenic crisis in Bangladesh was completely preventable if people had done their homework.