ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

ATSDR To Hold Public Availability Session About the Omaha Lead
Health Assessment Released for Public Comment

Community Members Can Meet One-on-One with Agency Representatives

For Immediate Release: June 16, 2004

Note to correspondents: A media availability session will be held from 6:00 to 6:30 p.m. on June 22 at the TAC Building.

ATLANTA - The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, invites interested members of the community to attend a public availability session regarding the public health assessment on the Omaha Lead Refinery site that ATSDR recently issued for public review and comment.

The public availability session will be held Tuesday, June 22, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Teacher Administration (TAC) Building, 3215 Cuming, Omaha, Neb. 68131. At the session, community members can meet individually with ATSDR representatives to discuss any potentially site-related health concerns they may have.

Representatives of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also will be in attendance, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., to answer questions concerning EPA's remedial investigation report.

The Omaha Lead public health assessment will be an agenda item at a meeting of the Community Advisory Group, Wednesday morning, June 23, at 10:00 a.m. at Metro Community College, South Omaha Campus, Industrial Training Center-Room 107, South 27th and Q streets, Omaha, Neb.

In the Omaha Lead public health assessment, ATSDR finds that the ongoing exposure to lead of children under 6 years old who live in or near the Omaha Lead initial site investigation area puts them at risk of lead-related health effects.

Copies of the public health assessment are available for review and comment through August 6 at these three library locations in Omaha:

W. Dale Clark Library
21 5 S. 15th St.

South Omaha Branch
Omaha Public Library
2302 M St.

Washington Branch
Omaha Public Library
2868 Ames Ave.

A copy of the public health assessment also can be downloaded from
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/omahalead/pdfnote.html.

Comments on the public health assessment must be made in writing. Mail comments to
Chief, Program Evaluation, Records and Information Services Branch
ATSDR
1600 Clifton Road, N.E. (MS E-60)
Atlanta, GA 30333

Comments received, without the names of individuals who submitted them, and ATSDR responses to the comments will appear in an appendix to the final public health assessment. Names of those who submit comments, however, will be subject to release for requests made under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

For more information, community members can contact Senior Environmental Epidemiologist John Crellin, toll-free, at 1-888-422-8737. Regional Representative Sue Casteel also may be contacted at 913-551-1312. Callers should refer to the Omaha Lead site in Omaha, Neb.

ATSDR, a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, evaluates the human health effects of exposure to hazardous substances. Established by Congress in 1980 under the Superfund law, ATSDR conducts public health assessments at each of the sites on the EPA National Priorities List, as well as other sites when petitioned. Headquartered in Atlanta, ATSDR is staffed by more than 400 health professionals including epidemiologists, physicians, toxicologists, engineers and public health educators.

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Members of the news media can request an interview with ATSDR staff by calling Jennifer Sarginson or Jill Smith in the ATSDR Office of Communication at 770-488-0700.