ATSDR - Public Availability Sessions for Edwards Air Force Base Site

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

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ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT
ATSDR hosts two public availability sessions
to discuss community health concerns
related to the Edwards Air Force Base Site

For Immediate Release: April 24, 2002

Note to Correspondents: Representatives from ATSDR will be available to meet with members of the news media from 5:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. on May 1 at the Mojave Veterans Building in Mojave and from 5:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. on May 2 at the Kern County Library/Wanda Kirk in Rosamond, California.

What: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will hold two public availability sessions, one in Mojave, California, and one in Rosamond, California, to provide area residents an opportunity to discuss their health concerns related to the Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB) site.

ATSDR wants to talk with residents about their health concerns related to the site as part of the agency's efforts to prepare a public health assessment.

Where & When: The public availability sessions are set for:

May 1, 2002, May 2, 2002

Mojave Veterans Building, Kern County Library/Wanda Kirk

15580 "O" Street, Room #1 3611 Rosamond Boulevard

Mojave, California Rosamond, California

6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

Public availability sessions are not intended to be large-scale meetings. Instead, community members may drop in any time and meet one-on-one with ATSDR staff to discuss health and site concerns. Attendance is open to the public, although individual conversations with ATSDR staff will be confidential.

Background:EAFB is located approximately 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Boundaries of the 470-square-mile base fall within Los Angeles, Kern and San Bernardino counties. Past activities resulted in contamination of groundwater and soil at the base.

Under Superfund laws, ATSDR is required to develop a public health assessment document for Edwards Air Force Base. The purpose of the document is to determine

whether chemical contaminants released to the environment from the Edwards are reaching people in the area and are likely to pose harm to public health. In preparing its public health assessment, ATSDR evaluates environmental data, health outcome data, and responds to community health concerns related to chemical contamination originating from Edwards AFB activities. The public availability session is a normal part of the health assessment process and is designed to gather health concerns and define information needs in order to respond to the public on and around the base.

For more information: Call ATSDR Toxicologist Scott Sudweeks or Community Involvement Specialist Youlanda Outin, toll free, at 1-888-422-8737. Or, call ATSDR Regional Representative William Nelson at (415) 947-4316 in San Francisco. Callers should refer to the "Edwards Air Force Base" site.

Back to ATSDR Home page

This page last updated on April 25, 2002

For more information, contact ATSDR at:

1-888-422-8737 or e-mail: atsdric@cdc.gov (public inquiries)

(404) 639-0501 or e-mail: atsdrpress@cdc.gov (news media)

May 1, 2002,	May 2, 2002
Mojave Veterans Building,	Kern County Library/Wanda Kirk
15580 "O" Street, Room #1	3611 Rosamond Boulevard
Mojave, California	Rosamond, California
6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.	6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.