April 1, 2008
Dr. Julie Gerberding
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
Administration, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
1600 Clifton Road, N.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30333
Dear Dr. Gerberding:
On February 6, 2008, we wrote to you asking you to protect Dr. Chris De Rosa, formerly head of the Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), from retaliation for whistleblowing. Dr. De Rosa was instrumental in revealing the massive failings in ATSDR’s erroneous and completely unsubstantiated conclusion last February that the formaldehyde levels in trailers used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to house victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita did not reach a “level of concern for sensitive individuals.”[1] He was also a key witness at our hearing today to further review those events. As you know, the report was never reviewed by the agency’s toxicologists before its release. But it was relied on by FEMA to keep trailer occupants in an unhealthy living situation for a year longer than necessary.
[1]ATSDR, “Health Consultation: Formaldehyde Sampling at FEMA Temporary Housing Units, Baton Rouge, Louisiana,” Feb. 1, 2007. p. 9.
Read the complete letter to Dr. Gerberding
