This interview is with Environmental Health Insights editorial board member Dr Lalita Bharadwaj. Environmental Health Insights is an open access journal published by Libertas Academica.

Editor in Chief Dr Timothy Kelley has recently issued a call for papers.

What is the primary focus of your research?

I am a Toxicologist with expertise in the areas of Human and Environmental Health Risk Assessment. I have conducted a variety of risk assessments for specific contaminated sites, explicit and unique exposure scenarios and for materials used in the construction industry. My research involves assessing potential health risks to rural, remote and Indigenous Communities associated with long-term low-level exposures to environmental chemical contaminants through water (primarily), soil and air. Research approaches involve the use of animal, tissue and cell culture models of exposure, the application of toxicogenomics and the employment of community-based participatory methods. A large focus of my research involves the assessment of drinking water issues for National and International Indigenous Communities, with emphasis on the health impacts to children, families and their communities as a result of poor access to clean, safe sustainable drinking water sources. I also foster the development of secondary and post-secondary students through application of community based education models in research activities.

What are the most exciting developments arising from current research in your area?

Our lab demonstrated for that environmentally realistic levels of drinking water contaminants such as arsenic 2,4-D and nitrate induce gene expression changes in exposed human cell lines. I am currently working with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations to assess the issues and barriers associated with the poor access to safe and sustainable drinking water in these communities and together have developed a Safe Drinking Water Program.

Who are your main collaborators? Please describe your work with them.: I am involved in Community Based Participatory Reserach so my main collaborators are community members although I collaborate with other academics in the fields of toxicology, hydrology, engineering and community health and epidemiology.

How did you come to be working in your research area?

I became interested in my research area through a passion for applied research in the area of toxicology, interest in the areas of human and environmental health risk assessment and in generating research data, through the use of community based participatory research methods, that is useful and meaningful and can be shared and utilized by communities.

What do you think about the development of open access publishing? Have you published in an open access journal? What motivated you to do so?

Open access publishing is great. It allows for greater dissemination of knowledge.

What articles and/or books have you published recently?

Publications (last 6 years)
Bharadwaj, L., Machibroda, R., (2008) Saskatoon Rehabilitates its South Downtown Riverbank Area. Environmental Science and Engineering 21(3): 54-58.

Nilson, S., Bharadwaj, L., Hill, V., & Knockwood, D. (2008) Science in a Circle: Forming Community Links to Conduct Scientific Research in Partnership with Communities. Pimatisiwin: A Journal Of Indigenous and Aboriginal Community Health 6(1) 123-136.

Bharadwaj, L., Judd-Henrey, I., Parenteau, L., Tournier, C., & Watson, D., (2008) Solid Waste Incineration in a Saskatchewan First Nation Community: A Community-Based Environmental Assessment of Dioxins and Furans. Pimatisiwin: A Journal Of Indigenous and Aboriginal Community Health 6(1) 161-180.

Bharadwaj, L., Machibroda, R., (2008) Human Health Risk Assessment Approach for Urban Park Development. Accepted for Publication July 2008. Archives of Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology 59:213-223.

Bharadwaj, L., Nilson, S., Judd-Henrey, I., Oullette, G., Parenteau, L., Tournier, C.,Chief Daryl Watson, Chief Darcy Bear, Chief Gilbert Ledoux, Chief Austin Bear (2006) Waste Disposal in First Nations Communities: The Issues and Steps Toward the Future. Journal of Environmental Health, March 206 Issue: 35-38.

Bharadwaj, L.A., Dhami, K., Schneberger, D., Stevens, M., Conde, R., Ali, A., (2005). Altered gene expression in human hepatoma hepG2 cells exposed to low-level 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and potassium nitrate. Toxicology In Vitro 19:603-619.

Davies F.G., Roesler W.J, Ovsenek N, Bharadwaj L., (2003). Troglitazone reduces heat shock protein 70 content in primary hepatocytes by a ubiquitin proteasome independent mechanism. Pharmacological Research 48:119-127.

Book Chapters
Bharadwaj, L., Machibroda, R., (2009) Case Study: Saskatoon Rehabilitates its’ South Downtown Riverbank Area. Accepted for publication November, 2008. In: The Story of Brown Fields and Smart Growth in Kingston Ontario: From Contamination to Revitalization. Publisher: Classroom Complete Press, Toronto,Ontario.

Bharadwaj, L., (2009) Cardiac Toxicology: In General and Applied Toxicology (GAT), 3rd Edition. Editors: Drs. Bryan Ballantyne, Timothy Marrs and Tore Syversen. Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom.

Bharadwaj, L. (2006). Drinking Water Contaminants and Human Health. In Velma I Grover (Ed), Water: Global Common and Global Problems (pp. 169-189). Enfield, NH, USA: Science Publisher.