ATLANTA - The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is seeking public comments on the public health assessment for the Jackson Park Housing Complex (JPHC). In the public health assessment, ATSDR found past exposures associated with fish and shellfish consumption and ingestion of potentially contaminated surface soil to be indeterminate. Scientists also found no current or future public health hazards associated with chemical contamination at JPHC.

JPHC is the site of the former Naval Ammunitions Depot (NAD). The purpose of the public health assessment was to evaluate possible chemical contaminant exposures resulting from activities associated with the former NAD.

Although the probability is low, people could come into contact with munitions or munitions-related items beneath the surface of the ground and in the water near the site, which poses a potential physical hazard for residents of JPHC, especially young children. Munitions or munitions-related items include explosives, rockets, bombs, and mines.

The ATSDR public health assessment recommends the following :

• The Navy should continue to work with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop a formal protocol for reviewing future sampling and analysis work plans regarding contamination in Ostrich Bay. The protocol should list the munitions compounds examined and evaluate the public health impact of any target compounds.
   
• Inform residents, especially parents and caregivers, about physical hazards associated with the site.
  
  
• Continue to prohibit all fishing, shellfish harvesting, swimming, and diving in Ostrich Bay until the Navy completes its marine investigations.
  
  
• An agreement between the Navy, state, and federal regulatory agencies should state that munitions-related exposures no longer pose a physical hazard before marine activities are resumed in Ostrich Bay.

Residents are encouraged to read the ATSDR public health assessment and make comments during the month-long public comment period. Copies of the public health assessment are located at:

Kitsap Regional Library
Central Branch
1301 Sylvan Way
Bremerton, WA 98310

Kitsap Regional Library
Martin Luther King Jr. Branch
612 Fifth Ave.
Bremerton, WA 98337

ATSDR will accept comments on the public health assessment through April 14, 2008. Comments received during the public comment period will be logged in to the ATSDR administrative record for this public health assessment. Comments received, and ATSDR's responses to the comments, will appear in the final public health assessment. Comments on the public health consultation must be made in writing. Mail comments to:

Records Center, ATSDR
ATTN: Jackson Park Housing Complex
1600 Clifton Road, N.E. MS F-09
Atlanta, GA 30333

For more information about the public health assessment, call Angel Sanchez, Health Assessor, at 770-488-0751 or call 1-800-CDC-INFO.

ATSDR, a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, evaluates the human health effects of exposure to hazardous substances.

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Members of the news media can request an interview with ATSDR staff by calling the NCEH/ATSDR Office of Communication at 770-488-0700.