A new study will analyze contaminated dust from mine sites on the Navajo Nation to determine the health effects on communities in the region.

"The question is how much of that travels to community members and into their households," says Matt Campen, PhD, professor from University of New Mexico's College of Pharmacy. "Those are parts of the puzzle we have to study in order to better define what the public health impact will be."

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Furhana Afrid A new study on the health impact of toxic mine waste dust on the Navajo Nation

Campen is taking a mobile lab to the first mine site at Blue Gap Tachee in Arizona. "If there is a problem we need to motivate action and help clean that up," says Campen. "Whatever answers we get from the research, (they) are going to have a lot of value."