OPPT_Asbestos, Part I: Chrysotile_F. Human Health

Project ID

2533

Category

OPPT REs

Added on

Jan. 16, 2017, 8:56 a.m.

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Technical Report

Abstract  Oak Ridge High School is located at 1120 Harvard Way in El Dorado Hills, California, about 30 miles northeast of Sacramento, in El Dorado County. Naturally occurring asbestos has been identified in rocks and soils on and around school property, and a vein of asbestos was disturbed during construction of a soccer field in 2002. A community member, who had been active for several years in voicing concern over asbestos exposures in the area, asked the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to evaluate the public health implications of current and past asbestos exposures of students and staff at the high school. In this public health consultation, ATSDR reviews available environmental data and potential exposure pathways to determine whether adverse health effects are possible from past or present asbestos exposure at Oak Ridge High School and recommends actions to prevent, reduce, or further identify the possibility for adverse health effects. ATSDR has also received numerous reports of health-related concerns about the area surrounding the high school and other areas with naturally occurring asbestos. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently collecting and analyzing data on asbestos levels in other areas of El Dorado County, and ATSDR will address those pathways in a subsequent health consultation.

Technical Report

Abstract  ATSDR evaluated the former California Zonolite/W.R. Grace & Company site in Glendale, California, because more than 120,000 tons of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite were shipped to the site and expanded by exfoliation. Commercial exfoliation of vermiculite is a process of heating uniformly graded pieces of vermiculite in a furnace to expand or pop it into lightweight nuggets. The California Zonolite/W.R. Grace & Company facility operated from 1950 to 1977. The site consists of 2.75 acres of land on the north side of greater Los Angeles. Land use around the site is commercial, light industrial, and residential. The closest residential area is located 500 yards to the east. 1990 census data indicate 1,748 people lived within 1 mile of the site during the decade after vermiculite processing ceased. While the facility was operating, workers at the facility and members of their households were exposed to asbestos from the processing and handling of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite and waste rock. Sufficient site- and process-specific information is available to consider these exposures a public health hazard. On the basis of the information available, ATSDR estimates that from 70 to 150 former workers were exposed during the time the plant operated.

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