ATSDR extends public comment period for health consultation, 35^th Avenue Site, North Birmingham, Alabama

North Birmingham, Alabama

Thursday, August 27, 2015

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is seeking public comment on a health consultation released July 22, 2015 for the 35^th Avenue site in North Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama. ATSDR will accept comments from the public on this report until September 30, 2015.

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 35^th 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, and the North Birmingham Regional Branch Library, 2501 31st Avenue North, Birmingham, AL.

ATSDR will accept public comments on this health consultation until September 30, 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: 35^th 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 35^th Avenue Site in North Birmingham or visit the 35^th Avenue Site website: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/35avenuesite/index.html.

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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 due to exposure to hazardous substances in the environment.

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Related News Releases For North Birmingham, Alabama, USA

 

ATSDR Releases Final Health Consultation for the 35th Avenue Site, North Birmingham, Alabama
Release Date: Wednesday, January 18, 2017
(ATLANTA, GA) – The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) released its final report, an “Evaluation of Surface Soil and Garden Produce Exposures” for the 35^th Avenue site in North Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama. The public comment version was released on July 22, 2015.

ATSDR Releases Health Consultation for the 35^th Avenue Site, North Birmingham, Alabama
Release Date: Wednesday, July 22, 2015
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.

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Release Date: Thursday, August 01, 2013
The health consultation was conducted to determine if exposure to soil in yards, gardens, and schools in the Collegeville, Harriman Park, and Fairmont neighborhoods poses a public health hazard for people who live or work in the area.

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Release Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2013
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