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 that the agency is seeking applications from the community to participate as subcommittee members on the Oak Ridge Reservation Health Effects Subcommittee (ORRHES). The deadline to receive application materials is Feb. 3, 2004.

ATSDR will provide information about the subcommittee, its role, and the process for becoming a member of the subcommittee at a meeting on Feb. 3, 2004, from 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. The meeting will be held at the Kingston Community Center, 201 Patton Ferry Road, Kingston, Tenn. The meeting is open to the public and interested individuals are encouraged to attend.

The Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) Health Effects Subcommittee is chartered under a citizens advisory committee of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Citizens Advisory Committee was established as a federal advisory committee of the United States government.

Membership of the subcommittee will consist of a representative and a knowledgeable body of citizens from the Oak Ridge, Tenn., area. The subcommittee will provide advice and recommendations to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the director of ATSDR on the selection, design, scope, prioritization and adequacy of CDC and ATSDR public health activities and research connected with the ORR. The subcommittee will work with private citizens, advocacy groups, state agencies and other federal agencies in the region and provide members of the community an opportunity to communicate directly with national public health agencies.

For more information about the ORR Health Effects Subcommittee or the nomination process, contact ATSDR Committee Management Specialist Marilyn Horton or Designated Federal Official Lorine Spencer, toll free, at 1-888-42-ATSDR (1-888-422-8737).