THE WARREN SENTINEL
Article date: September 19, 2002

Federal agency seeks input on Avtex health concern

By: Roger Bianchini

On Wednesday, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, hosted an open house in response to health concerns expressed by residents of nearby communities about odors emanating from the Avtex Superfund site.

The purpose of the open house, which was held at the Samuels Public Library from 4-8 p.m.,was for ATSDR to gather community health concerns regarding the site, with the goal of developing an appropriate health education program for the community and its health-care providers.

On June 27, ATSDR released a health consultation on air sampling from information acquired during tests conducted along the site perimeter between October 2001 and January 2002. Among the conclusions from those tests, ATSDR stated "that hydrogen sulfide levels might reach nuisance levels at times because of the chemical's odor potential." Health officials added that, "it is unknown whether peak concentrations might be high enough to trigger respiratory reactions in sensitive individuals," such as asthmatics, children and the elderly. ATSDR concluded that further monitoring would be required to determine unequivocally whether site activities could affect public health in nearby communities.

ATSDR also concluded that,"no health affects are to be expected from hydrogen sulfide under conditions that existed during the duration of the sampling." They also noted that time-integrated sampling over a 24-hour period did not detect hydrogen sulfide, carbon disulfide or any of 18 other sulfur compounds that were tested for in the laboratory analysis of the air samples gathered. However, they noted that not enough information was gathered to determine typical levels or peak levels of carbon disulfide.

ATSDR recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is the federal agency overseeing the Superfund cleanup, conduct additional air monitoring at various time s of the year to identify seasonal effects of cleanup activities; that monitoring take place at all four existing monitoring stations to identify the highest levels of hydrogen sulfide; and that information on site activities, weather conditions and community complaints during the sampling period be reported with the sampling results; and that EPA test carbon disulfide, as well as hydrogen sulfide, when basins known to contain this waste are disturbed during excavations on the site.

Residents attending the open house were allowed one-on -one discussions with ATSDR representatives to express their concern and ask questions.
Participants were also asked to provide the name and location of their private physicians. That information will help ATSDR identify community medical professionals sought to attend future health education and training sessions, should additional air sampling indicate the necessity of such sessions.