ATSDR - Tanapag Village, Saipan, Site

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ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

ATSDR Issues Public Health Assessment for Review and Comment
on Tanapag Village, Saipan, Site

Finding is no past, current or apparent future public health hazard

For Immediate Release: August 14, 2003

ATLANTA - The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, today announced the release of a public health assessment (PHA) on the Tanapag Village, Saipan, site in the Northern Marianas Islands.

ATSDR finds that exposure to PCBs in Tanapag Village does not present a current, past or future public health hazard.

The document will be available for public review and comment at the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library through Sept. 9, 2003.

ATSDR was asked by the Department of Public Health (DPH) of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assist with evaluating the exposure of village residents to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), determine the extent of public health impact and address PCB-related community health concerns. Releases of PCBs from damaged electrical equipment reportedly left behind by the military in the 1960s had resulted in contamination in Tanapag Village.

In the document, ATSDR concludes:

Contamination in the past does not present a public health hazard. Available evidence indicates that the PCB contamination in Tanapag has not harmed the health of village residents. In the Tanapag clinic, DPH and ATSDR collected blood samples and completed medical examinations of village residents. No clinical signs of PCB-related disease were seen. On average, serum PCB levels in village residents were within the normal range of the U.S. population. The agency classifies the past exposure as no apparent public health hazard.
PCB contamination in the village does not pose a current or future public health hazard. Consuming land crab is not a health hazard. Contaminated soil has been remediated in Tanapag Village, eliminating a major exposure source.
Samples of surface soil, animals and plants, surface water and sediment, and groundwater were analyzed. PCBs were detected primarily in surface soil and to a lesser extent in sediment. Testing of local foods revealed some PCB contamination in land crab, but the levels appeared too low to be a health hazard to people who eat them. However, as a precaution to minimize PCB exposure, CNMI Department of Health recommended that people stop or limit crab consumption until further testing could be accomplished.

ATSDR recommends:

Resampling and analyzing land crab tissue for PCB contamination. This action should be planned and conducted by regulatory agencies as soon as possible.
Evaluating future crab sampling data to determine if the need for a land crab consumption advisory is warranted, and eliminating or modifying the advisory on the basis of new data. This action would be conducted by CNMI DPH, with ATSDR available to assist in the data review.

In addition, the ATSDR Division of Health Education and Promotion is conducting a health education needs assessment in partnership with CNMI DPH and the Tanapag community.

The PHA will be available for public review and comment through Sept. 9 at this local repository:

Joeten-Kiyu Public Library
Civic Center Complex
100 Beach Road
Susupe, Saipan

ATSDR welcomes comments from the public. Comments on the PHA must be made in writing. Mail comments to

Chief, Program Evaluation, Records and Information Services Branch
ATSDR
1600 Clifton Rd., NE (MS E-60)
Atlanta, GA 30333

Comments received during the public comment period will be logged in to ATSDR's administrative record for this PHA. Comments received, without the names of individuals who submitted them, and ATSDR's responses to the comments will appear in an appendix to the final PHA. Names of those who submit comments, however, will be subject to release for requests made under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

Community members seeking information on the procedures or the content of the PHA may contact Toxicologist Scott Sudweeks or Health Communication Specialist LaFreta Dalton, toll free, at 1-888-422-8737. Regional Representative Gwen Eng also may be contacted at 415-947-4317. Callers should refer to the Tanapag site on Saipan.

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Members of the news media may request an interview with ATSDR staff by calling Elaine McEachern in the ATSDR Office of Policy and External Affairs at 404-498-0070.

Back to ATSDR Home page

Updated by R. Searfoss August 14, 2003
For more information, contact ATSDR at:
1-888-422-8737 or e-mail: atsdric@cdc.gov (public inquiries)
404-498-0080 or e-mail: atsdrmediainquires@cdc.gov (news media)