Rebecca Jim, executive leader of Local Environmental Action Demanded (L.E.A.D.), a non-profit advocacy organization in Oklahoma, said Tar Creek is the oldest and largest Superfund site. She added that the EPA has already spent over $100 million in efforts to clean up the site.

“We believe lives have been shortened because of contaminated waste,” Jim said.

Residents of the Tar Creek Superfund, a mining waste site, are exposed to mixtures of lead, manganese, cadmium and arsenic—the toxicities of which are known individually, but not as mixtures, Hu said.

In addition, Hu said he suspects the iron at the site may be toxic in combination with the other metals.

Four different studies will be performed by the children’s center, Hu said. Two of the studies will be field-based. One will be an epidemiological observation of the effects of living in Tar Creek on residents and children in particular.

The Oklahoma State Congress recently passed a bill to authorize a $3 million buyout of Tar Creek households with children younger than six years old so that families could relocate, Jim said. However, the money—which has not yet arrived—will be able to pay for the relocation of 80 families, leaving 20,000 still at Tar Creek, Jim said.

Hu said his team would study the changing health of former Tar Creek residents once they left the area if their homes were bought out by the government.

The other field study will involve testing samples of soil and vegetation exposed to the toxic mixed metals.

At Harvard, two additional studies will test the effects of the mixed metals transported from Tar Creek on animals, Hu said.

Hu, who has worked with the Tar Creek community since he was first contacted by Jim in 1996, said his research should be globally applicable because there are over 2,000 Superfund sites in the United States, many of which contain toxic mixed metals. He said there are many similar locations worldwide.

“The projects are geared towards specifically understanding Tar Creek, but the ramifications of our research are extremely broad,” Hu said. “We can gain a fundamental understanding of how mixtures operate.”

Jim said Hu’s research has already had a positive impact on the community.

“We have been very grateful for his ability to explain to the community what is going on,” Jim said. “He’s been a resource for the community.”

—Staff writer Alan J. Tabak can be reached at tabak@fas.harvard.edu.