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 a meeting of the Oak Ridge Reservation Health Effects Subcommittee (ORRHES) will be held Tuesday, Dec. 2.

The meeting will be held from 12:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. at the Department of Energy (DOE) Information Center, located at 475 Oak Ridge Turnpike in Oak Ridge.

Agenda items will include presentations and discussions on the following items:

• ATSDR Public Health Assessment (PHA) conclusion categories and follow up public health actions
• ATSDR's responses to public comments on the draft PHA on the Y-12 uranium releases
• Overview of the results and conclusions of ATSDR's PHA on the Y-12 uranium releases
• ORRHES discussion and public comment opportunities

Members of the community are encouraged to attend and will have the opportunity to make comments between 2:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.

ORRHES, a federal advisory committee created in 1999, is comprised of a representative group of citizens that live in the communities surrounding the Oak Ridge Reservation. The group provides advice and recommendations to ATSDR and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the two agencies' public health activities and research regarding the Oak Ridge Reservation site. ORRHES members work with private citizens, advocacy groups, state agencies and federal agencies in the region and provide community members with an opportunity to communicate directly with federal public health agencies. The group holds regular meetings to update the community on ongoing activities.

Members of the community who have questions about these meetings, ORRHES or ATSDR activities at the Oak Ridge Reservation may contact the ORRHES Designated Federal Official, Lorine Spencer, toll free at 1-888-422-8737 or by calling 404-498-1745. Environmental Health Scientist Bill Taylor also may be contacted in the Oak Ridge Field Office at 865-220-0295. Callers should refer to the Oak Ridge site in Oak Ridge, Tenn.