Note to Correspondents: ATSDR staff will be available to meet with members of the news media prior to the meeting on January 12. The media availability session will take place from 6:30 until 7:00 p.m. at the Brick Township High School.

For more information, contact:
ATSDR at 1-888-42ATSDR

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are sponsoring a Community Meeting on January 12, 1999. At the meeting, ATSDR representatives will present the literature review which the agency has done to determine what is currently known about possible connections between chemical exposures and autism. The meeting will take place at the Brick Township High School, 346 Chambers Bridge Road, from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m.

On Wednesday, January 13, ATSDR will hold an open house for parents who have children with autism. The open house will take place from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m., and again from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m., at Brick Township High School. During the open house, ATSDR would like to hear from parents about any chemical exposures they or their children have had in the Brick Township area. People can stop by without an appointment to meet one-on-one with ATSDR staff. The sessions are open to the public, but individual conversations with members of the ATSDR staff are private.

For more information about the meetings, contact Tom Mignone, ATSDR Regional Representative, at (732) 906-6932 in New Jersey, or (212) 637-4306 in New York.