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Media Advisory

For Immediate Release: April 30, 2008
Contact: Division of News & Electronic Media, Office of Communication
(404) 639-3286

CDC/ATSDR Issues Revised Great Lakes Report for Public Comment

Who:

Dr. Henry Falk, Director, Coordinating Center for Environmental Health and Injury Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Why:

On Wednesday, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) issued a revised report on what is known about environmental contaminants and human health in 26 Great Lakes "Areas of Concern." This report responds to a request from the International Joint Commission (IJC) to define the threat to human health from critical pollutants found in the Great Lakes basin. The report analyzes many sources of data on environmental exposures and on human health in the Great Lakes basin.

Key conclusions of the revised report include: 1) available environmental health data provide a useful but only a partial picture of the burden of chemical exposures people in the region face; 2) current health and environmental data collection cannot define the threat to human health from critical pollutants in the Great Lakes region; and 3) need for additional data collection and analysis to permit scientists, decision makers, and members of the public to define the threat to human health from pollutants in the Great Lakes basin.

The report is available on the Internet at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/grtlakes/. The report is open for public comment for 60 days.

When:

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Noon, ET
Brief remarks followed by Q&A

Important Instructions: If you would like to ask a question during the call, press *1 on your touchtone phone. Press *2 to withdraw your question. You may queue up at any time. You will hear a tone to indicate your question is pending.