Conducting research that will help protect the health of Florida citizens and the environment is key to the Florida Institute of Phosphate mission. As such, FIPR's Public and Environmental Health research is concerned with issues such as waste disposal, environmental radioactivity, and the possibilities of air and water pollution. In fact, the Institute insists that research in all areas must at a minimum do no harm to the environment, and preferably benefit the environment and people of Florida.

History of Phosphate and Public and Environmental Health in Florida

Industrial concern with public and environmental health began to take hold in the 1960s. Industries like the phosphate mining industry, which had been removed from population areas were getting closer to people as communities grew and expanded out from main street to suburbs. The societal change coincided with a change in the demand for phosphate. Land grant colleges, which were designated by the federal government as colleges for agricultural research, called for more phosphate to be delivered to the farmers at lower costs. This caused Florida's phosphate industry to start shipping ammoniated phosphate fertilizers to farmers instead of shipping phosphate rock to be processed into fertilizer at plants near the farmer. This meant that large chemical processing plants were built in Florida to produce the phosphoric acid needed to make the ammoniated fertilizer products. The size of these plants caused more elements to be released to the environment. A phosphoric acid plant that had produced 50 tons of acid a day began to produce 700 tons a day. Today the plants produce 1000 tons a day and they can produce as much as 1400 tons a day.

In previous generations, standard practice for all industries was to dump wastes into the environment, especially rivers, streams and lakes. That practice was not questioned until nature was overloaded and could no longer process what was being dumped into it.

Fluorine from the phosphate industry is one example. In the late 1960s the state of Florida passed laws restricting air emissions in part because fluorine from the phosphate industry had begun to harm citrus trees and there were cases of fluorosis in cattle. Since that time phosphate companies have improved the techniques they use to remove contaminants before they are released into the air - such as scrubbing the stacks that processing plants use to release steam. Today fluoride emissions are not considered to be a problem. It is scrubbed from the stack and is either recovered to make fluosilicic acid, which can be sold for uses such as water fluoridation, or is sent to the cooling pond where losses to the air are within regulatory limits.

A rise in environmental awareness and concern brought more stringent regulations to all industry, including the phosphate industry.

The U.S. Environmental Protect Agency (EPA) was also born about this time. In 1975 came perhaps one of the biggest regulatory changes for the phosphate industry - mandatory reclamation. Some phosphate companies reclaimed land before 1975, but it was not the norm and there were not a lot of resources devoted to studying the best way to reclaim land or how the mining and land reclamation impacted public and environmental health.

Overview of Phosphate and Public and Environmental Health in Florida

Environmental radiation, for example, must be considered when reclaimed lands are used for home construction, agriculture. It is also an issue when considering using phosphogypsum as a soil amendment or for construction materials. Phosphogypsum is a by-product of the production of phosphoric acid and contains minute amounts of radium-226.

One of the biggest concerns of FIPR's public and environmental health research area has been what impact the natural make-up of Florida phosphate rock can have on the environment or human health. Florida's typical phosphate rock contains naturally occurring uranium-238 and radium-226, the latter of which gives birth to radon - an odorless, colorless gas that in extremely elevated concentrations is known to cause lung cancer. In much lower concentrations associated with the natural and mined environments, it is not known if radon can cause cancer so it is safer to assume that it does. All mineralized land in Florida has elevated radon levels, but the redistribution of soil due to mining and reclamation often provides pathways for the gas to reach the surface and also increases surface levels of radium, hence radon and radiation levels.

FIPR's Research in Phosphate and Public and Environmental Health

There has been much research completed since FIPR was established over a quarter of a century ago. FIPR's research in this area has covered everything from surveying radon levels in every county in the state and evaluating the best way to build a radon-resistant house to studying how radionuclides impact groundwater, wildlife and foods grown on phosphate lands. Consequently, we now have very good information about radiation doses to workers, effects on the health of workers over their lifetimes, natural and mined land characteristics, public radiation exposures, radon mitigation techniques, and safe uses of phosphogypsum. For that reason, future research in this area will mainly consist of updates when significant changes occur, filling the small knowledge gaps, and education of the public.

A number of projects not related to radioactivity have been completed, including dust control in the industry, mosquito control at mined areas, and noise and vibration associated with mining activities. Research in this area has also looked at the safety of consuming fish caught in lakes made from phosphate mining pits.

Areas of special interest include the environmental impact of flotation reagents, air pollution from processing operations, the storage/handling of phosphogypsum, and surface and aquifer water contamination by fluorides, acids, heavy metals, and radionuclides. As the other research areas develop technologies to deal with process water, phosphogypsum, clay settling areas and phosphatic clays, the Public and Environmental Health research area will encourage and conduct research on the effects of those technologies. In addition, baseline information should be gathered on sites that will be mined in the future so the impacts of mining can be evaluated.

One of the biggest services FIPR provides in this area is expert education on radiation and evaluation of radiation concerns in general and as it specifically applies to Florida. Educational initiatives include production of instructional videos and interactive computer programs. While using different techniques, both videos and software inform people about radioactivity and how radiation in the environment affects living things, and how the radiation risks of working or living in the phosphate region compare to other everyday risks in their lives.

Brian Birky has directed this area of research since 2000. Brian holds a bachelor of science degree in zoology (University of Florida Department of Zoology), and a master of science and doctorate from the University of Florida Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences in health physics. His primary expertise is in the health effects of environmental radiation. Brian has taught at the graduate level, and has co-edited/authored a book on radiological health. He has also provided consulting services for the nuclear power industry, kaolin and mineral sands industries, medical physics industry, and others over the last dozen years. Prior to his work in radiation protection, Brian worked for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) for nine years studying the genetics of malaria vectors.