The key to employing TEK in Western science is placing both knowledge systems on equal footing, notes
Symma Finn, a health scientist administrator at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and first author of the commentary.
"Minority communities shoulder a disproportionate share of the country's environmental problems, yet there are major gaps in our understanding of how environmental exposures and health interact in these smaller subgroups," says
Symma Finn, a medical anthropologist and program officer for the Population Health Branch of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.