[CPEO-MEF] HEALTH, MUNITIONS: ATSDR to undertake new Vieques (PR) study

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Navy's Vieques Training May Be Tied to Health Risks

By MIREYA NAVARRO
New York Times
November 14, 2009

The federal agency that assesses health hazards at sites designated for 
Superfund environmental cleanups said Friday that it had reversed its 
conclusion that contamination at a former United States Navy training 
ground in Puerto Rico posed no health risks to residents.

As a result, it said, it plans to recommend monitoring to determine 
whether residents of the island of Vieques, the site of decades of live 
fire and bombing exercises, have been exposed to harmful chemicals and 
at what levels.

"Much has been learned since we first went to Vieques a decade ago, and 
we have identified gaps in environmental data that could be important in 
determining health effects," Dr. Howard Frumkin, director of the Agency 
for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, said in a statement posted on 
the agency's Web site late Friday afternoon. "The gaps we found indicate 
that we cannot state unequivocally that no health hazards exist in Vieques."


...

For the entire article, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/science/earth/14vieques.html?_r=1&hpw

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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