ATLANTA—The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) released a comprehensive health evaluation of environmental contaminants that could pose a health risk to the residents of Mossville and Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. The evaluation consists of a health consultation and two community reports.

The health consultation assesses air monitoring data on dioxin and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) levels in Calcasieu Parish. ATSDR concluded that breathing the low levels of PCBs and dioxins measured in the air is not expected to harm people’s health. Although dioxins were not at levels that would cause health concerns, the agency recommends that facilities releasing dioxins into Calcasieu Parish air continue to reduce or eliminate those releases whenever possible. ATSDR will accept public comments on this document until September 9, 2013.

The two community reports are data summaries of exposure studies comparing levels of PCBs and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the blood of Calcasieu Parish residents with levels in Lafayette Parish residents—a district with fewer industrial plants—and the U.S. population. ATSDR concluded that the levels of PCBs and VOCs in the blood of Calcasieu Parish residents were similar to those in Lafayette Parish residents and in people across the U.S. They are not expected to cause health concerns.

ATSDR has been evaluating the health effects of exposure to contaminants released in Mossville since 1997, when community groups and the U.S. Environmental Agency requested its assistance. The reports released today are an evaluation of air contamination and blood samples, and the potential health impact on area residents.

More information on ATSDR’s work in Mossville, including copies of all previously released reports, is available at: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/mossville/index.html.

To read the documents released today visit: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/mossville/publications.html

Copies of the documents released today can be reviewed during regular hours at Sulphur Regional Library, 1160 Cypress St., Sulphur, LA 70663.

Comments on the health consultation must be made in writing, and those received during the public comment period will be addressed in the final version. Comments (without the names of persons who submitted them) and ATSDR’s responses to the comments will appear in an appendix to the final health consultation. Names of those who submit comments will be subject to release should requests be made under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

Send comments to: ATSDRRecordsCenter@cdc.gov, or mail to:

ATSDR Records Center
Attn: Rolanda Morrison
Re: Mossville, LA
4770 Buford Highway, NE (MS F-09)
Atlanta, Georgia 30341

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

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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.