ATLANTA - The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) today released the final version of its public health assessment for the Stauffer Chemical Co. site in Tarpon Springs, Fla.

The report concludes that the Stauffer site was a public health hazard before 1982 due to harmful levels of air pollutants, primarily sulfur dioxide and particulate matter, released from the Stauffer plant while it was in operation.

The report also concludes that some Stauffer workers were exposed to contaminants on the job at levels that might cause adverse health effects. The report can be viewed at
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/region_4.html#stauffer033005.

[A fact sheet summary of the report can be viewed at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/publications/staufferchemical-factsheet0305.pdf.]

According to this final assessment, the Stauffer site is not currently a public health hazard because people are not being exposed to site contaminants at harmful levels. The Stauffer Chemical Co. plant ceased operations in 1981, and buildings and production facilities were dismantled in the early 1990s and early 2000s.

Further, ATSDR believes that area residents who were exposed to airborne sulfur dioxide and particulate matter while the Stauffer plant was in operation are not currently at risk of harmful effects. To date, studies have not found past exposures to these pollutants, at the levels determined for this site, to be associated with long term health effects. This includes people who lived near the plant and students who attended Gulfside Elementary School from 1978-1981.

The public health assessment previously was released for public for review and comment. The report issued today is the final public health assessment for the site. It includes comments made during the public comment period and ATSDR's responses to the comments. Overall, the major findings of ATSDR's final assessment are the same as those presented in the previous report.

The report can be reviewed at

Tarpon Springs Public Library
138 East Lemon Street
Tarpon Springs, Florida

Pasco County Library, South Holiday Branch
4649 Mile Stretch Drive
Holiday, Florida

Community members seeking information about the public health assessment may contact ATSDR Environmental Health Scientist Steve Richardson or ATSDR Health Communication Specialist LaFreta Dalton, toll free, at 1-888-422-8737. ATSDR Regional Representative Carl Blair also may be contacted in Atlanta 404-562-1786. Callers should reference the Stauffer Chemical Co. site in Tarpon Springs, Fla.

Currently, ATSDR is developing site-related health information that will be provided to area residents, former Stauffer workers, and local health-care providers during summer 2005, as recommended in the final public health assessment.

In addition, ATSDR is conducting respiratory health evaluations for former workers who were employed at the Stauffer plant two years or longer. Workers were invited by letter, and the evaluations are available at no cost through April 2005.

ATSDR also is conducting a mortality cause-of-death study of former workers. Study results will be available in early 2006. For more information about the study, contact ATSDR project coordinator Steve Inserra toll-free at 1-888-422-8737, extension 0564.

ATSDR is a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.