ATSDR - Eastland Woolen Mill Site in Corinna, Maine

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ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

ATSDR To Hold Meeting To Discuss the Public Health Assessment Findings at Eastland Woolen Mill Site in Corinna, Maine

Agency Finds Site Was Past Public Health Hazard; Currently No Apparent Hazard

For Immediate Release: Sept. 19, 2003

ATLANTA - The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will hold a public meeting Sept. 25 to discuss the results of its public health assessment (PHA) at the Eastland Woolen Mill (EWM) site in Corinna, Maine, near Bangor.

No apparent public health hazard currently exists at the former woolen mill. However, the site posed a public health hazard in the past.

ATSDR found that people who consumed contaminated water from private wells near the site had an increased risk of cancer. Also, former workers who processed chemicals could have an increased risk of cancer. ATSDR does not have enough information about the past exposures to make an estimate of the possible health risk of those exposures. ATSDR classifies the site as a past public health hazard because past exposures were high enough to increase the risk of adverse health effects. The EWM site is on the Superfund National Priorities List.

The meeting will be from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Sept. 25 at the Corinna Fire Annex, located at 35 Exeter Road in Corinna. The purpose of the meeting is to release and explain the results of ATSDR's public health assessment and to obtain community input.

The document will be available for public review and comment at local repositories through Dec. 1, 2003.

ATSDR recommends that the Environmental Protection Agency and/or Maine Department of Environmental Protection continue to monitor groundwater and provide clean water to residents with contaminated wells. Also, the agency recommends that state and local officials increase vigilance to ensure that people follow applicable state fish advisories for contaminants that are not site-related.

The public health assessment will be available for review and comment at the following two repositories:

Stewart Free Library
8 Levi Stewart Drive
Corinna, Maine 04928

EPA New England Records Center
One Congress St.
Boston, Mass. 02114

The document can be viewed or downloaded from the Corinna Web site: http://www.cattailpress.com/TAG/ATSDR/Eastland%20PHA.pdf.

ATSDR welcomes comments to its public health assessment. Comments must be submitted in writing. Mail comments to

Chief, Program Evaluation, Records and Information Services Branch
ATSDR
1600 Clifton Road, NE (MS E-60)
Atlanta, GA 30333

Comments received, without the names of individuals who submitted them, and ATSDR's responses to the comments, will appear in an appendix to the final PHA. 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 or a copy of the document, call John Crellin, senior environmental epidemiologist, or Dawn O'Connor, community involvement specialist, toll free at 1-888-422-8737. Regional Representative Gary Perlman also may be contacted at 617-918-1492. Callers should refer to the Eastland Woolen Mill site in Corinna, Maine.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 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 may request an interview with ATSDR staff by calling Elaine McEachern or Jennifer Sarginson in the ATSDR Office of Policy and External Affairs at 770-488-0700.

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Updated by R. Searfoss September 23, 2003
For more information, contact ATSDR at:
770-488-0700 or e-mail (news media)