The head of the Friends of the Shenandoah River wants the federal government to undertake a study of Warren County to determine if their health was damaged by the Avtex Fiber rayon factory.

"There should be an assessment," Meryl N. Christiansen, said Monday. "I don't think Avtex would like to see one."

The plant spun its first rayon yarn in 1940 and closed late in 1989, following a number of health, safety and environmental violations.

The company filed for bankruptcy early in 1990.

Christiansen said he knows of no health study ever performed on the residents of the community at large.

He also said he only has anecdotal evidence of specific health problems caused by the plant.

He said he suspects that the most, widespread problems would have been caused by the massive quantities of carbon disulfide the plant emitted.

"The place was a tremendous air polluter," he said.

Millions of pounds of the chemical, used in the manufacturing process, were emitted. In the late 1980s, the state Air Pollution Control Board found the company in violation of state air quality standards that had been drafted in 1985.

Christainsen said people across the Shenandoah River from the plant, whose wells had been contaminated by chemicals from waste basins, suffered health problems.

He said he also has heard of numerous health problems among employees, including cancer and emphysema.

He said he originally asked the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an arm of the U.S. Public Health Service, to do an epidemiological study of the area.

He said he got no response from that agency so he contacted the Environmental Protection Agency, which sent him an application form shortly before the holidays. He said he has not yet had a chance to return the application.

"The whole thing is pretty nebulous now," he said, but health assessments are usually made by studying the incidence rates and death rates of particular diseases.

A health assessment done in December 1988 found no major effect on the health of those in the area, according to the most recent update on the Avtex site that was recently published by the EPA. Those assessments are updated whenever new information is available.

There is a difference between an assessment and a study. A health study is performed after an assessment and develops new information to determine possible health effects related to a site. A health study is made only if "significant human health risks exist" and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta determines if such a study is warranted, the EPA says.

In the update, the agency also says it cannot examine the areas thought to be the least contaminated first. Instead, the EPA is required by law to study the overall site for serious contamination, which can take two years or more.

The FMC Corp., a former owner of the plant that is partially responsible for the cleanup of the site, is paying for a redevelopment study of the plant, the results of which should be completed by the end of the month.