ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

ATSDR To Sponsor Community Education Sessions

For Immediate Release: April 8, 2005

ATLANTA -The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) invites Oak Ridge residents to attend education sessions about community health concerns presented by Dr. Robert Brent on April 18 and 19.

Dr. Brent is an independent expert in genetic and environmental causes of birth defects and cancer. During these sessions, he will directly respond to questions and concerns about birth defects, cancer, chemicals and radiation. Two sessions will be held:

Monday, April 18
American Museum of Science and Energy
300 South Tulane Ave.
Oak Ridge, TN

Tuesday, April 19
Kingston Community Center
302 Patton Ferry Road
Kingston, TN

Dr. Brent will frame his presentation around specific community health concerns. In addition, Dr. Brent will respond to questions posed during his presentation. Please send any questions and concerns in advance to wtaylor@cdc.gov or
CDR William H. Taylor
Oak Ridge Field Office
P.O. Box 5088
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

These community education sessions are being held in response to community health concerns about birth defects and cancer. To date, ATSDR has completed two of nine ongoing studies at the Oak Ridge Reservation and has not identified off-site exposure at levels that are a public health hazard.

Dr. Robert Brent is a professor of pediatric radiology and pathology at Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He is also the head of the Clinical and Environmental Teratology Laboratory at A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del.

To join the ATSDR-ORR e-mail list please send an e-mail to WTaylor@cdc.gov. Information about ATSDR activities associated with Oak Ridge Reservation will be distributed via this e-mail list.

For more information, community members can contact the ORRHES Designated Federal Official, Marilyn Palmer Horton, toll-free at 1-888-422-8737 or by calling 404-498-1751. Health Communications Specialist Maria Teran-Maciver can be reached at 404-498-1754. Environmental Health Scientist Bill Taylor also may be contacted in the ATSDR Oak Ridge Field Office at 865-220-0295. Callers should refer to the Oak Ridge site in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

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 the ATSDR Office of Communication at 770-488-0700.