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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Lora Siegmann Werner, MPH, Region 3, Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry, 1650 Arch Street, Mail Code 3HS00, Philadelphia, PA 19103, 215-814-3141, lwerner@cdc.gov
Dioxin contamination has been identified in an approximately 35 mile long region of the Kanawha River Valley, stretching from Winfield, West Virginia in the north, south past Charleston, West Virginia, to an endpoint around Belle, West Virginia. The Kanawha River is a major waterway and important recreational river, and many current and former industrial sites line its borders near Charleston. Historical industrial activities in the region, including the manufacture of Agent Orange by Monsanto, have contaminated biota, soil, sediments, and surface waters with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (dioxin). Community members have raised health concerns about cancer, diabetes, and thyroid conditions. To search for potential contributing sources to the river system’s contamination, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began re-investigating former waste sites in the region in 1999, and recently identified a 13.5 river mile portion of the Kanawha River with dioxin-contaminated river sediments at least three times above the highest background concentration levels. The challenge for environmental public health professionals assessing this area has been to reconcile the widespread nature of this dioxin contamination with the problem of trying to identify particularly exposed populations and any specific health effects. At this time, we have prioritized the most important exposure pathway of concern as the ingestion of contaminated fish. Health education initiatives have included a seminar for public health nurses, presentations to students, and a revised fish consumption advisory developed by the state. Further evaluation is ongoing.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Environmental Health, Environmental Exposures
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.