Public health assessment of the Stauffer Chemical Co. site

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ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT
ATSDR releases for public comment
its public health assessment of the Stauffer Chemical Co. site
ATSDR will hold two public availability sessions
about the report in Tarpon Springs on April 8

For Immediate Release: April 2, 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, today released for public comment its public health assessment (PHA) of the Stauffer Chemical Co. site (Stauffer) in Tarpon Springs, Fla.

ATSDR will host public availability sessions from noon - 2 p.m. and 6 - 8 p.m. on April 8 at the Tarpon Springs Community Center, 400 S. Walton, Tarpon Springs. Residents may drop in any time to discuss the health assessment with ATSDR scientists and Ombudsman Ronnie D. Wilson.

The public comment period for the PHA is from April 2 through June 3, 2003.

This PHA was prepared in response to a recommendation in a December 2000 report about ATSDR activities at the Stauffer site issued by agency Ombudsman Ronnie D. Wilson. According to Wilson, the agency's earlier PHA, released in 1993, was incomplete.

In the new, 174-page PHA, ATSDR's conclusions about the Stauffer site include the following:

Currently, the Stauffer site is not a public health hazard. No one is being exposed to harmful levels of chemicals from the site.
Former Stauffer workers intermittently were exposed to asbestos-containing materials and other contaminants, such as carbon monoxide, chromium, hydrogen sulfide, lead, silica, and sulfur dioxide at levels that could cause an increased risk of cancer or other adverse health effects. These conclusions are, however, based on limited (1972-1981) data. No worker exposure data are available for the first 25 years of Stauffer operations (1947-1971).
Because of harmful levels of arsenic in on-site soil and radium in on-site slag, the Stauffer site could be a future public health hazard if the property is developed for residential purposes.
A few private water supply wells in the site area contained arsenic, lead, or both at levels that might cause adverse health affects. However, the elevated levels are not believed to be related to groundwater contamination beneath the Stauffer site.

Levels of air pollution in the immediate area of the Stauffer facility while it was operating were likely to be a public health hazard.

ATSDR made this determination based on air data available for a limited period of time, approximately five years (1977-81), after the Stauffer facility had installed air pollution control equipment. Because of data limitations, ATSDR was not able to evaluate all pollutants that may have been released from the facility.

The components of air pollution causing the health hazard were sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. These components reached levels that in scientific literature are associated with an increased incidence of adverse lung and heart conditions.

Off-site populations at greatest risk for suffering adverse health effects while the plant was in operation included children, the elderly, persons with pre-existing heart or lung disease, and persons with asthma who lived or worked near the Stauffer facility.

In making this hazard determination, ATSDR scientists caution that some uncertainty exists in the health conclusions for long- and short-term exposures to particulate matter and long-term exposure to sulfur dioxide.

However, both sulfur dioxide, as well as particulate matter, are likely to affect the lungs; therefore, any added particulate matter exposures in combination with sulfur dioxide exposures may have increased the risk of an adverse effect to the lungs.

According to the report, people residing in or working in the following areas might have experienced adverse health effects from their exposures to particulate matter and sulfur dioxide:

The Flaherty Marina (before 1982),
Residential homes built before 1982 southwest of the Stauffer facility along the shore of the Anclote River,
Residential homes west of the Stauffer facility built before 1982 and within 1,540 feet of the kiln, and
Commercial and industrial businesses east of the Stauffer facility along Anclote Road built before 1982 and within 1,540 feet of the kiln.

People who lived or worked in those areas might have experienced the following harmful effects:

Changes in lung function (such as, an increase in airway resistance and a narrowing of lung's airways),
Wheezing and shortness of breath,
An increase in heart rate and breathing rate,
Cough, and
Throat irritation.

The people most sensitive to the effects of sulfur dioxide were those with asthma who were exercising while being exposed to sulfur dioxide.

Only at the higher hourly levels detected (600 to 800 parts per billion) would healthy (non-asthmatic) people have experienced some of the symptoms of sulfur dioxide exposure.

These higher hourly levels occurred several times a year while Stauffer was operating and before the company raised the kiln's stack in May 1979.

The health effects mentioned that were for short periods of exposure to high levels of sulfur dioxide were temporary and unlikely to cause permanent health impairment.

ATSDR used an air dispersion model to predict sulfur dioxide levels in the surrounding community resulting from sulfur dioxide release from the Stauffer facility. This model predicted that significant sulfur dioxide levels occurred in the surrounding community.

In addition to exposures of former workers and residents, community members asked ATSDR to consider whether students at Gulfside Elementary School near the Stauffer site had been at risk.

ATSDR found no evidence that from 1982 to the present students at the school were being exposed to harmful levels of pollutants from the Stauffer site.

Before 1982, computer modeling showed very infrequent student exposures to sulfur dioxide were possible. Although uncertainty exists, ATSDR believes it is unlikely that students at the school who were exposed to sulfur dioxide in the past are currently at risk of harmful effects.

No quality air-monitoring data or reliable estimates from computer modeling for particulate matter in air at the school exists. As a result, ATSDR was not able to determine if particulate matter was a hazard to Gulfside students.

As ATSDR's involvement with the Stauffer site continues, the agency plans a variety of activities that include:

Providing health education to residents, former Gulfside students, former Stauffer workers and to health care providers.
Providing follow-up activities with users of water supply wells that contained elevated levels of arsenic and lead.
Conducting a workshop of medical and health experts to identify possible health activities for former Stauffer workers.
Reviewing new site data as it becomes available, including the results of recent geophysical and hydrogeologic site investigations.

ATSDR's public health assessment is available for public review until June 3, 2003 at the Tarpon Springs Library, 138 Lemon St., Tarpon Springs.

Comments on the public health assessment must be made in writing. Comments should be mailed to:
Chief, Program Evaluation, Records and Information Services Branch
ATSDR
1600 Clifton Rd., NE (MS E-32)
Atlanta, GA 30333

Comments received during the public comment period, without the names of individuals who submitted them, and ATSDR's 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.

Community members seeking information on the procedures or the content of the public health assessment may contact ATSDR Environmental Health Scientist Steve Richardson, toll free, at 1-888-422-8737. ATSDR Regional Representative Carl Blair also may be contacted in Atlanta 404-562-1786. Callers should reference the Stauffer Chemical Co. site in Tarpon Springs, Fla.

Members of the news media may request an interview with ATSDR staff by calling Elaine McEachern or John Florence in the ATSDR Office of Policy and External Affairs at 770-488-0700.

Statement of
Ronnie D. Wilson
ATSDR Ombudsman
Regarding the Stauffer Chemical Site Public Health Assessment

I am pleased that Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has developed a revised Public Health Assessment (PHA) to help the citizens of Tarpon Springs better understand their potential exposures to contaminants from the Stauffer facility. This product is the culmination of two years of work by a team of experts.

The new PHA is far reaching and is in my mind a "High Water" mark for health assessments. This effort used computer technology to its fullest to "model" or analyze known contaminant releases and the documented weather conditions in the Tarpon Springs area. The effort resulted in a graphic display of both the areas and levels of any likely exposures affecting the public's health.

One must realize that the determination that the site was a public health hazard was based on, as the poem says, "The best of times," or after the installation of pollution control devices following the passing of the Clean Air Act. In addition, plant production modifications occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s that served to reduce emissions. So, it could be concluded that it is very likely the emissions that were not measured in the past were much greater.

The public health determination was also made based upon the limited pollutants Stauffer was required to measure. There were many other compounds being used and released at the facility which were not measured and thus could not totally be evaluated for health impacts.

As Ombudsman, I am proud of the new PHA for not only its quality as a health evaluation tool, but this is also the first time ATSDR has completed the cycle in which the public contacted the Ombudsman, a report was produced with recommendations, and the Agency produced an entirely new PHA in response to the community's concerns. In the Stauffer matter (or case) I was contacted by two citizens and Congressman Michael Bilirakis and asked to look into past efforts to evaluate the impact the site may have had or may have in the future on the health of Tarpon Springs citizens and former citizens. Following a year's investigation, in December 2000 I released my Ombudsman Report of Findings and Recommendations.

Editor's Note: ATSDR Ombudsman Ronnie D. Wilson will be available to speak with reporters during a media availability session from 3 - 4 p.m. April 8 at the Tarpon Springs Community Center, 400 S. Walton, Tarpon Springs.

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This page updated April 2, 2003
For more information, contact ATSDR at:
770-488-0700 or e-mail (news media)