- Anyone who currently lives, works, attends school, or plays in areas with asbestos in the soils, or had done so in the past.
- Health care professionals who may have patients who currently live, work, attend school, or play in areas with asbestos in the soils, or have done so in the past.
El Dorado Hills, California is about 30 miles northeast of Sacramento, in El Dorado County. Oak Ridge High School is located at 1120 Harvard Way in El Dorado Hills. Naturally occurring asbestos has been identified in rocks and soils on and around school property, and a vein of asbestos was disturbed during construction of a soccer field in 2002. A community member asked the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to evaluate the public health implications of current and past asbestos exposures of students and staff at the high school. For the health evaluation, called a public health consultation, ATSDR reviewed available environmental data and potential exposure pathways to determine whether adverse health effects were possible from past or current asbestos exposure at Oak Ridge High School, and recommended actions to prevent, reduce, or further identify the possibility for adverse health effects. ATSDR released for public comments its health consultation on the Oak Ridge High School site in May 2005 .
ATSDR also received numerous reports of health related concerns about the area surrounding the high school and other areas in El Dorado Hills with naturally occurring asbestos. In May 2005, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) released the findings of its October 2004 sampling for personal exposures to asbestos at three schools and the El Dorado Hills Community Park. These results suggest that engaging in a variety of sports and play activities in the areas tested can expose individuals participating in those activities to significantly elevated levels of amphibole asbestos. ATSDR will address these exposure pathways in a forthcoming health consultation.
Selected Resources
January 2006 Public Health Consultation, Oak Ridge High School, Final [PDF, 425KB]
This final public health consultation released by ATSDR concludes that current
exposures to naturally occurring amphibole asbestos from campus soil at Oak
Ridge High School have been minimized by the mitigations conducted by the El
Dorado Union High School District (EDUHSD) and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. However, the potential exists for current or future exposures from
unmitigated areas on campus or from other off-campus sources. The final public
health consultation includes public comments from the May 6, 2005 through June
30, 2005 public comment period and ATSDR’s responses.
Naturally-Occurring Asbestos Materials
This Web page has materials developed by ATSDR for:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 1825 Century Blvd, Atlanta, GA 30345 Contact CDC: 800-232-4636 / TTY: 888-232-6348
