The Agency For Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced today the release of its latest Trichloroethylene (TCE) Subregistry Registrant Report.

The TCE Subregistry is one of four substance-specific subregistries that comprise ATSDR's National Exposure Registry (NER). The NER is a listing of persons exposed to hazardous substances in residential areas. ATSDR is required by law to maintain the NER.

The NER is designed to aid ATSDR in assessing if there are health effects associated with low-level, long-term exposures to hazardous chemicals, such as those identified at hazardous waste sites. The NER data can not be used to determine if the chemical exposures caused health problems. However, analysis of the TCE Subregistry data will help ATSDR determine if there is an association between TCE exposure and adverse health effects. Equally important, the NER serves as a mechanism through which exposed individuals can be notified of the results of research related to their exposure.

The TCE Subregistry includes 4,489 people at 15 sites in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Arizona who were exposed to TCE through contaminated water supplies. These sites were selected because there was environmental data available that documented the exposure of the residents to TCE.

The report analyzes data from the Baseline through Followup 3 interviews of participants who are known to have been exposed to TCE in the past. Baseline data collected when the TCE Subregistry was established in 1989 included responses to 26 health questions as well as demographic and occupational information. The TCE Subregistry participants were contacted again one year after their initial interview, then every other year, to update information on their health status.

Members of the TCE Subregistry have been sent two versions of the TCE Subregistry registrant reports. Trichloroethylene (TCE) Subregistry Registrant Report Baseline through Followup 3 is a one-page summary of the results, while National Exposure Registry Trichloroethylene (TCE) Subregistry Baseline through Followup 3 Registrant Report contains more detailed information. These reports summarize the health status of the people who are members of the TCE Subregistry.

ATSDR will hold public availability sessions to discuss the registrant reports at the following locations, dates and times:

Michigan: 	Monday, June 14, 6:30-8:30 pm
			Doris Klaussen Developmental Center - Cafeteria
			408 Jameson Street 
			Battle Creek, MI

		Tuesday, June 15, 7-9 pm
			Barry-Eaton District Health Department 
			528 Beech Street
			Charlotte, MI

Indiana: 		Wednesday, June 16, 7-9 pm 
			Municipal Building, 2nd Floor
			229 South Second Street
			Elkhart, IN

Illinois: 	Thursday, June 17, 7-9 pm 
			Ken-Rock Community Center
			3218 11th Street
			Rockford, IL

Arizona: 		Tuesday, June 22, 6-8 pm
			El Pueblo Clinic
			101 W. Irvington Road
			Tucson, AZ

Pennsylvania: 	Thursday, June 24, 7-9 pm
			Hereford Township Municipal Building
			3131 Seisoltzbille Road
			Hereford, PA

ATSDR was created by Congress in 1980 and reauthorized in 1986. It is the lead agency charged under the Superfund Act to assess the presence and nature of health hazards at specific Superfund sites, to help prevent or reduce further exposure and illnesses that result from such exposures, and to expand the knowledge base about health effects from exposure to hazardous substances.

For more information, contact Ginger L. Gist, Ph.D., Senior Environmental Health Scientist, Exposure and Disease Registry Branch of ATSDR, toll free at 1-888-42-ATSDR (1-888-422-8737).