The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) released its final health consultation today to evaluate whether past, present, and future exposures to chemicals in the soil of the Tie Plant community are a public health hazard.

In 2011, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) requested that ATSDR evaluate potentially contaminated soil, air and water emanating from the Koppers Inc./Beazer East, Inc. (KB), Tie Plant Facility, a wood treatment plant.

For this health consultation, ATSDR analyzed soil samples taken from thirty-one residential yards in the Tie Plant community.

The public health agency’s current review concluded:

• The soil samples tested contained polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, long-term exposures to the concentrations found pose little risk of skin or stomach cancers. Other health effects are not expected from short or long-term PAH soil exposures.
• One resident’s yard contained concentrations of dioxins that might slightly increase the risk for cancer after fifty years of exposure. To reduce the risk, soil from this yard has been replaced. Other adverse health effects are not expected from dioxin soil exposures.

In 2009, ATSDR analyzed data on groundwater at the KB site for the chemical, pentachlorophenol, and found no evidence of it. In 2010, the agency examined documents on air contamination in the community. It concluded that the available information did not adequately represent emissions from the KB site and recommended that additional air monitoring data be collected.

KB site cleanup operations are ongoing with oversight by the US EPA. As part of the clean-up, contaminated soil from the three residences with the highest PAH concentrations has been replaced.

Even though the concentrations of chemicals in the soil of other yards in Tie Plant are below levels of public health concern, ATDSR recommends that people follow the recommendations in Appendix B of the health consultation to reduce the likelihood that soil and dirt will enter their homes and bodies. The recommendations are:

• Wash and peel all fruits and vegetables;
• Wipe shoes on a doormat or remove them before going inside;
• Don’t eat food, chew gum, or smoke when working in the yard;
• Damp mop floors, and damp dust counters and furniture regularly;
• Wash dogs regularly;
• Wash children’s toys regularly; and
• Wash children’s hands and feet after they have played outside.

This Health Consultation makes no determination of the specific source of the soil contaminants and focuses only on whether the contaminants present a public health hazard.

A public comment version of the health consultation was released September 4, 2012. No comments were received. The findings of the report remained unchanged.

To read the health consultation visit: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/pha/HCPHA.asp?State=MS

A copy of the health consultation can be reviewed during regular hours at the Elizabeth Jones Library, 1050 Fairfield Avenue, Grenada, MS, 38902.

For more information about ATSDR’s work in Grenada, MS community members can call 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636).

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