SFSS member and IUFI affiliate Mecca Burris plans to use innovative research method for dissertation research in Costa Rica this February
Mecca Burris, a fourth year PhD student in the Anthropology Department and member of IU’s Sustainable Food Systems Science group, is traveling to Costa Rica this month to conduct her dissertation research on the environmental determinants of puberty onset in girls. Her research focuses on exposure to pesticides as the determining factor, but will also control for food insecurity, nutrition, and stress.
We sat down with her last month for a little Q&A to learn more!
Q: Hi Mecca! Are you able to tell us a bit about what led you to this area of research?
A: I have been studying food insecurity for the past 6-7 years, and my Masters’ thesis looked at the impact of food insecurity on the timing of puberty among girls. I found this topic interesting and important, and I wanted to keep exploring it. Then, when spending time in Costa Rica a few years ago, I could not ignore the significant amount of pesticide exposure that was going on. Knowing, from an evolutionary perspective, that these synthetic chemicals haven’t been around long - and our bodies don’t know how to use or break them down – they must be disrupting the system and impacting hormones, fertility, health, and development, I wanted to do something. Being in the middle of it, seeing it and smelling it and tasting it, seeing it being sprayed while the kids are playing soccer, it made me angry! These communities are already impoverished and struggling with the lack of basic needs, and then large corporate plantations are exposing them to these chemicals, I just couldn’t ignore it.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming trip and the research you have planned?
A: Absolutely! Costa Rica is unique in that the country is about half agricultural land and half forested land. The government does a very good job of protecting the country’s primary and secondary forest, with lots of nature preserves and protected areas, and my research will be comparing communities that are protected by forest to those in the agricultural area where families are living right in the middle of big plantations.
The primary objective will be to explore whether pesticide exposure varies between these two environmental areas. Is the forest filter effect having any protective impact for the communities in that region? And, if so, do we see a difference in the timing of puberty?
Q: How will you be conducting this research?
A: I’m excited about a new method for anthropology and human biology that we’ll be using for this part of the study. We will be measuring chemical exposure with silicone wrist bands – similar to the Livestrong bracelets. Silicone is a material that absorbs everything, so it should pick up any chemicals people are being exposed to from the air, water, soap, etc. Participants will wear them for seven days, and then we will use a process called gas chromatography to measure the chemical levels and composition at the end. I am not a chemist, but am really lucky to be working with Marta Venier, an environmental chemist from IU, and her lab is going to handle that part.
Methods for measuring chemical exposure in the past were really invasive such as taking blood or urine samples – which is hard to do with children and is hard to get permission for. In fact, it wasn’t until recently that Costa Rica opened back up for biomedical research. They shut it down for several decades due to some really unethical things that happened in the 80s and 90s with big pharmaceutical companies, so I am glad to be able to come in with something that isn’t invasive and might actually be kind of fun for the kids!
Q: Will you be staying with friends or host families you know from past visits?
A: Our department has relationships with biological stations, and I’ll be staying at one called La Selva where I’ve stayed before that’s part of the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS). OTS is a hub for researchers in that area, mostly for biological sciences and environmental sciences. They have been doing a lot of research on pesticides for plants and wildlife, and a lot of work with primates, but I am the first one to be studying humans in this group.
The second area, I have never been to, and there’s no station there, so I’m planning on working with an organization to find a host family — or just find a long-term Airbnb or hotel rental.
OTS work with policy makers, which is maybe what I’m most excited about. They host forums with policy makers to share research with them, and I’m excited to have access to that platform.
Q: That leads into my next question. What are your primary goals from this research?
A: Absolutely the policy implementations! Ideally, the Costa Rican government would start banning some of these pesticides – or at least put limits on them. Costa Rica uses more pesticides per hectare than anywhere else in the world. And it’s mostly coming from big American corporations. The immediate goal is to show the amount of exposure in these communities and its effects and just go from there.
Q: I know you said earlier that you are also controlling for nutrition and stress in this research. What is it about stress and poor diet that affects puberty onset?
A: I’m so glad you asked. I love talking about this. With stress, it’s an evolutionary adaptation. In a stressful early life environment, you tend to develop more quickly so you can reproduce sooner before, theoretically, dying younger. Bodies are predicting a shorter life or that some of your offspring won’t survive. It’s like herbs going to seed early when they don’t have enough water or are stressed in other ways by their environment.
And with poor diet, food insecurity, at least in the United States, is often associated with an abundance of calories - carbs and fats – paired with micronutrient deficiencies. The more energy stores you have in your body, the earlier it prepares to reproduce. The stored energy has to go somewhere, and it sends those biological messages. If you are underweight, it’s the opposite; puberty can be delayed or reproductive efforts stopped until the body has energy to support it.
Q: Thank you so much Mecca! Is there anywhere people can reach you if they are interested in learning more about your work?
A: Yes! You can reach me over email at burris@indiana.edu.
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