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ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

ATSDR Releases Public Health Consultation with Groundwater Sampling Results
from the Myrtle Grove Trailer Park Well System, Plaquemine, La.

Finds Site Presents No Apparent Public Health Hazard

For Immediate Release: June 2, 2004

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 announced the release of the final public health consultation on the Myrtle Grove Trailer Park in Plaquemine, Iberville Parish, La. This health consultation includes the results of groundwater sampling from the Myrtle Grove Trailer Park well system as well as the agency's responses to comments received on the public comment version of the document.

The health consultation finds that residents of the trailer park were exposed to water that contained vinyl chloride and other volatile organic compounds. However, the levels of the chemicals detected were below levels likely to result in adverse health effects.

ATSDR has, therefore, categorized the Myrtle Grove Trailer Park Site as presenting no apparent public health hazard.

ATSDR recommends continued monitoring of the vinyl chloride groundwater plume to better characterize the plume and determine its source(s) and to evaluate potential exposures to vinyl chloride-contaminated groundwater in areas surrounding the Myrtle Grove Trailer Park site.

The health consultation is available for review at the following two locations:

Iberville Parish Library
24605 J. Gerald Berret Blvd.
Plaquemine, LA 70764
POC: Betsy Bensen

Louisiana Environmental Action Network
(LEAN) Satellite Office
58038 Fort St.
Plaquemine, LA 70764

For copies of the health consultation and for more information, former residents of Myrtle Grove Trailer Park and other community members can contact Environmental Health Scientist Danielle Langmann or Health Communications Specialist Youlanda Outin, toll-free, at 1-888-422-8737. Regional Representative Patrick Young also may be contacted at 214-665-8562. Callers should refer to the Myrtle Grove Trailer Park site in Plaquemine, La. When phoning after business hours (after 4:30 p.m.), callers should leave a message that includes their name, address, and telephone number, including area code.

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 Jennifer Sarginson or Jill Smith in the ATSDR Office of Communication at 770-488-0700.

Updated by R. Searfoss June 3, 2004
For more information, contact ATSDR at:
770-488-0700 or e-mail (news media)

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