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Spring Valley, Washington, DC
Newsletter No. 3 | March 2003 |
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
is pleased to provide the Spring Valley community with updates regarding
our activities. During the past 6 months, ATSDR, in conjunction with the
District of Columbia (D.C.) Department of Health, completed its Spring
Valley Phase II Exposure Investigation (EI). In response to requests from
the Mayor's Scientific Advisory Panel and others to sample selected residential
areas during the summer months -- and as a follow-up to the March 2002
Phase I EI -- this EI was conducted from July through November 2002. The
purpose of the EI was to evaluate whether exposure to -- that is, contact
with -- residential surface soils previously identified as having elevated
levels of arsenic poses a public health risk, especially during times
of increased outdoor activities. Samples of urine were collected from persons living in houses on or next to the areas with elevated arsenic levels to determine if arsenic exposure was occurring. Overall, urine arsenic testing shows low levels of arsenic exposure in the population tested. These levels would not be expected to cause health problems. In addition, please visit ATSDR's Spring Valley Web site at www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/springvalley. As always, ATSDR values and welcomes your opinions and comments regarding what you would like to see included in future newsletters. Sincerely, Robert C. Williams, PE, DEE Assistant Surgeon General Director, Division of Health Assessment and Consultation |
A total of 40 persons (34 adults and 6 children) participated. Testing was offered to those persons who met at least one of these criteria:
What did investigators analyze for in the Phase II (summer 2002) EI?
What were the final results of the summer 2002 EI?
What recommendations were made regarding these results?
On Tuesday, December 10, 2002, ATSDR staff held a community meeting with only those persons who had participated in the Spring Valley Phase II Exposure Investigation. The purpose of the meeting was to answer questions and address concerns pertaining to the participants' individual results.
In addition, in another meeting held
with the community, the results of the agency's Phase II EI were presented to
the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) members.
On Monday, February 3, 2003, the Phase II EI results were shared with the Mayor's
Scientific Advisory Panel.
ATSDR will release a report on the Phase II EI results by the end of March 2003.
In addition, ATSDR is drafting a health consultation in which we will review site data and provide a public health perspective on environmental and health data. This consultation will include a review of the scientific literature to see if existing data suggest a plausible relationship between site contaminants and illnesses that were reported by residents to the D.C. Department of Health. We anticipate that this consultation will be shared with the community in the spring of 2003.
For additional information, please contact
any of the following ATSDR representatives.
www.atsdr.cdc.gov |
This page last updated on March 20, 2003
Gail Scogin-gscogin@cdc.gov
ATSDR
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