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Barber Orchard—Barber Orchard, west of Waynesville, is a former commercial apple orchard. The site is now being developed as a residential community.

During the orchard operation, pesticide mixtures were used to control insects and rodents. These mixtures were delivered to trees using a pressurized underground piping system. Product application, leakage of the piping system, and spills during product mixing are thought to have led to contamination of the groundwater and soil. Pesticides, arsenic, and lead have been detected in site soils and in private drinking wells on the site.

In a public health assessment released in July 2002, ATSDR concluded that current exposures to site contaminants are not likely to result in adverse health effects. Residents are filtering their water to remove contaminants, and connections to the municipal water supply will be available within 2 years. In addition, frequently used areas of residential lots with high arsenic and lead soil levels have been cleaned up to safe levels.

ATSDR also did an exposure investigation at this site to look at lead and arsenic levels in children and adults. No levels of health concern were found.

Davis Park Road Trichloroethene (TCE)—The Davis Park Road TCE site is in the southwestern part of Gastonia. Groundwater at the site was contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including TCE and tetrachloroethene (PCE). These compounds reportedly originated from contaminated soil behind a local auto repair shop. Groundwater contamination was detected in private wells in the area, so residents have been provided with filters for their private wells or have been connected to the municipal water system.

In a public health assessment released in April 2002, ATSDR concluded that the Davis Park Road TCE site does not pose a public health hazard at this time. Residents are no longer drinking contaminated water, and levels of contaminants in soil are too low to cause health effects. ATSDR considers the site a past public health hazard: in the past, the maximum levels of TCE detected in well water exceeded regulatory standards and could have increased the risk for adverse health effects if that water was used for drinking for many years. ATSDR provided the public with information on the potential health concerns associated with their past exposure. Arsenic and lead detected in site soils were present at levels too low to result in health effects.

Sigmon's Septic Tank Service Facility/Sigmon Environmental Services—In June 2001, ATSDR received a request from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to determine the public health impact of Sigmon's Septic Tank Service Facility in Statesville on private wells near it. In 2002, ATSDR released two health consultations on this site.

In the health consultation released in March 2002, ATSDR reviewed groundwater data. ATSDR concluded that the chemicals identified in seven of the private wells surrounding the facility pose no apparent public health hazard to area residents using them.

In the health consultation released in July 2002, ATSDR reviewed the surface water data for the site. The surface water pathway is of concern because tributaries near the site flow into two major recreational fishing waters, the Catawba River and Lake Norman. Furthermore, analytical results of surface water and sediment samples collected by the North Carolina Superfund Section indicate chemical releases into the surface water bodies near the site. These analytical results may imply a potential for contamination of the biota within the recreational fished waters.

The July 2002 health consultation concluded that the chemicals identified in the nearby surface water features surrounding the facility pose no apparent public health hazard to area residents because levels of chemical exposures in the soil/sediment and surface water near the facility are well below exposure levels known to cause adverse health effects. In addition, chemical levels estimated in the edible tissue of sport fish assumed to exist in surface water features near the facility do not pose a potential impact to public health.

Weyerhaeuser Company—The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) modeled air emissions of hydrogen sulfide from the Weyerhaeuser Company's pulp and paper mill in Plymouth. NCDHHS provided ATSDR with the summary results of the modeled results and asked ATSDR whether the data indicated a potential public health hazard to residents in the communities surrounding the facility.

In a health consultation released in October 2003, ATSDR concluded that residents living around the Weyerhaeuser paper pulp mill may be exposed to ambient air concentrations of hydrogen sulfide that exceed health-protective levels recommended by NCDHHS and the North Carolina Scientific Advisory Board. Modeled 24-hour hydrogen sulfide concentrations also exceed ATSDR's acute minimal risk level for hydrogen sulfide.

Because no actual ambient air monitoring data were available, the Weyerhaeuser pulp and paper mill was classified as an indeterminate public health hazard. ATSDR recommended air monitoring in residential areas near the facility to better define the ambient air concentrations of hydrogen sulfide to which people are being exposed. ATSDR also recommended a review of available information on potential releases of other site-related chemicals from nonprocess sources at the facility (e.g., the wastewater treatment plant) to determine whether off-site ambient air monitoring for other site-related chemicals is indicated.

Salisbury—ATSDR is involved with two petition sites in Salisbury: APAC Carolina Inc. Hot Mix Asphalt and Associated Asphalt, a liquid asphalt storage and distribution facility. These sites have emissions of hydrogen sulfide; benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene; VOCs; and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In addition, local residents have odor complaints about the sites, and groundwater at the sites is contaminated.

ATSDR has agreed to write a health consultation on these sites and is working with local residents and state and county health officials.

Through a national cooperative agreement with the Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN), ATSDR provides assistance to health care providers working with migrant and seasonal farm workers. MCN, the second-largest clinical network in the nation, brings together clinicians from various professions to meet the needs of migrant and seasonal farm workers. MCN members in North Carolina are Blue Ridge Community Health Services, Inc. (Hendersonville); Goshen Medical Center, Inc. (Faison); Kinston Community Health Center (Kinston); Piedmont Health Services, Inc. (Chapel Hill); Tri-County Community Health Center (Newton Grove); and North Carolina Primary Health Care Association (Cary).

Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance System (HSEES)—HSEES was established by ATSDR in 1990 to collect and analyze information about releases of hazardous substances that need to be cleaned up or neutralized according to federal, state, or local law, as well as threatened releases that result in a public health action, such as an evacuation. The goal of HSEES is to reduce the morbidity and mortality of first responders, employees, and the general public resulting from hazardous substances emergencies. Fifteen state health departments, including North Carolina, currently participate in HSEES. HSEES captures data on more than 8,000 events annually. Of these events, 80% occur at fixed facilities, and 20% are transportation-related events. Most events occur between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. People most often injured are employees.

Exposure to VOCs in Drinking Water and Specific Birth Defects and Childhood Cancers—The overall objective of this study is to examine the associations between 1) maternal exposures within a 1-year period before the child's birth to TCE and PCE in drinking water at Camp Lejeune during 1968-1985 and 2) risk for specific birth defects and childhood leukemia in offspring. These birth defects include neural tube defects (e.g., anencephaly and spina bifida) and oral clefts (e.g., cleft lip with and without cleft palate and cleft palate). The results of the planned study will address the recommendation made in ATSDR's 1997 health assessment of the U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune that an epidemiologic study be considered to determine whether mothers exposed to VOCs in drinking water during their pregnancies were at higher risk for giving birth to a child with health problems such as a birth defect or a childhood cancer. ATSDR will publish a final report of the study, and it will be distributed to the general public. Because of the geographic dispersion of participants, results of the study will be distributed via the Web and may include a Web broadcast.

In response to the public health assessment recommendation, ATSDR began the multistep process of determining the appropriateness of conducting an epidemiologic study of specific childhood cancers and birth defects at Camp Lejeune. ATSDR surveyed by telephone the parents of 12,598 eligible children born to women who were pregnant with them while living on the base during 1968-1985. The number of parents surveyed was about 80% of the estimated total number who were pregnant while living on base during this time. The year 1968 is the starting point, because that year North Carolina began computerizing its birth records. The end point is 1985, because the tainted wells were shut down that year. Parents were asked whether the child had a birth defect or had developed a childhood cancer. ATSDR has finished the survey and is now confirming the cases. All of the participants who took part in the Camp Lejeune survey in 1999-2002 gave permission to be contacted for future studies.

Environmental Exposure to Diisocyanate—The North Carolina Division of Public Health's Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, through a cooperative agreement with ATSDR, is studying the possibility of diisocyanate exposures in communities residing near facilities that use these compounds. The study involves a stepwise approach of air monitoring and sampling, questionnaire administration, and blood testing for diisocyanate antibodies in people living within a quarter mile of a facility. If air monitoring does not indicate the presence of diisocyanate in residential air, another community near another facility will be selected. Four communities near facilities, along with four comparison communities, will be tested. Comparison communities are selected on the basis of socioeconomic, race, and percent homeownership factors. North Carolina and ATSDR are working cooperatively with county health departments, the facility, and the American Chemical Society's Diisocyanate Panel. Air monitoring began around the first facility in early November 2003.

This page updated by Thomas Walker February 17, 2004 ATSDR-OpeaMail@cdc.gov

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