RECOMMENDATION SIX

Risk Communication

The Panel recommends that the District of Columbia's Department of Health, in collaboration with other agencies (e.g., Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Corps of Engineers) develop a well thought out approach to risk communication - the interpretation and translation of all environmental and health related data collected relevant to the Spring Valley Community. Special attention should be paid to what Spring Valley residents want to know about the detected and measured contaminants and their health effects. Communication is a two-way street. Unless the government agencies know what the Spring Valley residents want and need to know, time and energy may be wasted.

The Panel believes it important that the involved governmental agencies enhance community members understanding of the fundamental principles of toxicology, and environmental risk including concepts of exposure, dose and bioavailability—the ability of a contaminant that enters the body to be liberated from its environmental matrix (e.g., soil, water, tissue) and to enter circulation. Bioavailability varies not only with the chemical itself but also with the matrix (soil, water, and food). For example, the likelihood that a plant will take up a contaminant from the soil is also a function of bioavailability.

CONCLUSION

The Panel concludes that further steps (e.g., data collection, analysis) are necessary to provide sufficient information for a more complete understanding of environmental and health conditions in the Spring Valley community. The additional activities needed are reflected in the recommendations of the Panel.

GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
MAYOR'S HEALTH POLICY COUNCIL
Spring Valley Scientific Advisory Panel

Anthony A. Williams

Mayor

Bailus Walker, Jr., Ph.D., MPH
Chairman

REPORT OF THE

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

MAYOR'S SPRING VALLEY
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY PANEL
Attachments

II.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

MAYOR'S SPRING VALLEY SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY PANEL 825 North Capitol Street, NE, Washington, DC

Bailus Walker, Jr., PhD, MPH, Chairman, Spring Valley Scientific Advisory Panel

Presentations

Moderator: Bailus Walker, Jr., PhD, MPH, Chairman, Spring Valley Scientific Advisory Panel

History of the Spring Valley Site & USACE's Soil Sampling Strategy

Major Brian Plaisted, Deputy District Engineer for Spring Valley

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry's Exposure Investigation
Susan Metcalf, MD, MSPH, Chief, Exposure Investigation Section

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

American University's Exposure Investigation

Paul Chrostowski, PhD, QEP, FRSH, Principal

CPF Associates, Inc.

Summary of the Health Effects

Lynette Stokes, PhD, MPH, Chief, Bureau of Hazardous Material and Toxic Substances
Department of Health

Descriptive Epidemiological Study of Cancers Associated with Arsenic

Vincent Kofie, PhD, Director of Surveillance and Epidemiology