ATSDR in Partnership With South Dakota
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is the lead
public health agency responsible for implementing the health-related provisions
of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of
1980 (CERCLA). ATSDR is an Atlanta-based federal agency with more than 400
employees and a budget for 2004 of approximately $73 million. ATSDR assesses the
presence and nature of health hazards at specific Superfund sites, helps to
prevent or reduce further exposure and illnesses resulting from those hazards,
and expands the knowledge base about the health effects of exposure to hazardous
substances.
ATSDR works closely with state agencies to carry out its mission to serve the
public by using the best science, taking responsive public health actions, and
providing trusted health information to prevent harmful exposures and disease
related to toxic substances. ATSDR provides funding and technical assistance to
states and other partners through cooperative agreements and grants to identify
and evaluate environmental health threats to communities. These resources enable
state and local health departments and other grantees to further investigate
environmental health concerns and to educate communities. In addition to direct
funds and services, ATSDR provides technical and administrative guidance for
state-conducted site activities.
ATSDR Site-Specific Activities
Public Health Assessment-Related Activities
One of ATSDR's important mandates is to conduct public health
assessments of all National Priorities List (NPL) sites and of other
sites where a significant threat to public health might exist. A public
health assessment is a written, comprehensive evaluation of available
data and information about the release of hazardous substances into the
environment in a specific geographic area. Such releases are assessed for past,
current, or future impact on public health. ATSDR, in collaboration with public
health and environmental officials from South Dakota, has
conducted five public health assessments in the state,
including the following recent example.
Gilt Edge Mine—Located near
Deadwood, the Gilt Edge Mine is an open-pit, cyanide-heap-leach
gold mine. Sulfide waste rock and exposed ore zones contain heavy metals,
including arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, copper, lead, and zinc. High levels of
nitrates and sulfates also are present in heap-leach residues. In 1999, the
operating company was no longer able to maintain the site. It left 150
million gallons of acidic, heavy-metal-laden water in three open pits, as
well as millions of cubic yards of acid-generating waste rock requiring
cleanup and long-term treatment.
ATSDR is conducting a public health assessment for the site; however, more
detailed environmental information is needed before the assessment can be
completed. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is conducting the
necessary environmental sampling and other investigations to obtain the
information. The remedial investigation and risk assessment, which should be
complete by early 2005, will determine the extent of risk for both humans
and the environment.
A health consultation is a written or oral response from
ATSDR to a specific request for information about health risks related to a
specific site, chemical release, or hazardous material. A health consultation is
a more limited response than a public health assessment is. Sixteen
health consultations have been developed at 14 sites in
South Dakota, including the following recent examples.
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Sharps
Corner/Porcupine Area—Residents of the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation in South Dakota asked ATSDR to determine whether
exposure to possible contaminants in selected private well water and indoor
air in the Sharps Corner/Porcupine area would adversely affect the health of
area residents. The primary contaminants of concern for the Sharps
Corner/Porcupine area are radionuclides in the drinking water and
radon in the indoor air of private residences.
In a health consultation released in September 2003, ATSDR concluded that
radon poses no apparent public health hazard to residents in homes sampled
for radon in the Sharps Corner/Porcupine area. ATSDR also concluded that
ingestion of uranium from water in private wells in the Sharps
Corner/Porcupine area poses no apparent public health hazard because
calculated uranium levels in residents were lower than the acceptable
exposure limit for uranium in the general public.
ATSDR recommended conducting a second indoor radon test in residents' homes
where radon was detected. ATSDR also recommended public health education
about cancer, lung cancer, radon, and smoking. Either radon exposure or
smoking can independently increase the risk for lung cancer; exposure to
both greatly enhances that risk.
Takini School—The Takini School is on the Cheyenne
River Indian Reservation near Howes. In early
2001, the interior of a water tower serving the school and a nearby
residential area was painted with an inappropriate paint. Before it was
disconnected, the tower briefly supplied water to the school and housing
water lines. Because of concerns about residual contamination left in the
lines, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), in collaboration with the
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Environmental Program, pursued further
evaluation and precautionary testing. BIA asked ATSDR to review the
precleanup and postcleanup sampling data for the school and residences to
determine the public health implications of any contamination left in the
school water system.
Sampling results from February 2001 showed some nonchlorinated organic
substances in the school and water samples but sampling results from August
2001 did not show these substances. No contamination is in the water tower
or in the water supply system. However, samples revealed high levels of
chlorination disinfection by-products, or trihalomethanes, caused by high
levels of chloroform. ATSDR recommended reduction of exposure to these
by-products. Reduction may be accomplished by several means, such as working
with the water supplier to reduce the levels in the supply or providing and
maintaining filters on drinking fountains and in the kitchen and home
economics room in the school.
Resource Materials
ATSDR develops materials for public health professionals and medical care
providers to use to assess the public health impacts of chemical exposures.
These resources are available in print, on the ATSDR Web site, and on CD-ROM.
For example, medical management guidelines are available for acute chemical
exposures to more than 50 chemicals. These guidelines were designed to aid
emergency department physicians and other emergency health care professionals,
such as first responders, who manage acute exposures resulting from chemical
incidents. ATSDR's toxicological profiles comprehensively describe health
effects; pathways of human exposure; and the behavior of more than 250 hazardous
substances in air, soil, and water at hazardous waste sites. The toxicological
profiles primarily are used as a comprehensive resource by health professionals
at all levels. These profiles have been sent to requesters, including
representatives of federal, state, and local health and environmental
departments; academic institutions; private industries; and nonprofit
organizations in
South Dakota. ATSDR also has developed
extensive resources for community members.
April 2004