Disclaimer: A newer version of the 35th Avenue Site, Alabama Media Announcement with updated public comment period end date is available.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is seeking public comment on a health consultation released today for the 35th Avenue site in North Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama. The consultation reviews soil contamination in people’s yards on the site and includes residential properties in Collegeville, Fairmont, and Harriman Park. A limited number of homegrown produce test results are also evaluated.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) sampled environmental media in over 1,100 residential properties at the 35th Avenue site. This health consultation looked at the arsenic, lead, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (called PAHs) levels in residential surface soil and homegrown garden produce to see if people’s contact with these compounds could harm their health.

Based on the analysis of the 2012–2015 surface soil data and 2013 garden produce data, ATSDR concluded that the levels of arsenic, lead, and PAHs in surface soil at some properties could harm people’s health. Children are at higher risk than adults. Eating garden produce grown in arsenic and lead-contaminated soil will not harm people’s health when this is their only exposure. However, when people are also exposed to high levels of arsenic and lead in soil, they are more likely to develop health problems. The health consultation provides recommendations to protect people from harmful exposures.

To read the health consultation visit: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/35avenuesite/index.html

Copies of the health consultation can also be reviewed during regular hours at the Harriman Park Recreational Center, 4347 F. L. Shuttlesworth Drive, Birmingham, AL.

ATSDR will accept public comments on this health consultation until August 31, 2015.

Comments on the document 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: Community Soil Exposures: 35th Avenue Site
4770 Buford Highway, NE (MS F-09)
Atlanta, Georgia 30341

For more information about the health consultation, community members can call 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636) and reference the 35th Avenue Site in North Birmingham or visit the 35th Avenue Site website: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/35avenuesite/index.html.

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