Study of disease and symptom prevalence, Newsom Brothers National Priorities List Site, Columbia, Mississippi, Region 4. Final report

Technical Report · Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1989

OSTI ID:6714159

Columbia, Mississippi is the site of an abandoned chemical manufacturing plant that was contaminated with several VOCs and was included in the EPA's National Priorities List in 1986. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), in cooperation with the Mississippi State Department of Health, conducted a survey of disease and symptom prevalence. The objective of the survey was to determine whether the community living near the site (within a 1/4 mile radius of two on-site ponds) had an excess prevalence of specific self-reported diseases or symptoms, compared with an appropriate community not situated near the site. The results of the study show that residents ages 12 years and older living near the site reported more constitutional complaints (numbness, tingling or prickling, rash, watery or burning eyes, wheezing chest pain, dizziness) and memory loss than did the comparison community. No significant differences were found in self-reported symptoms or diseases among children in the two areas. No environmental exposure pathways or their resulting toxicological processes are known to explain the uniform increase in symptoms seen in the study. The apparent elevation in reported symptoms may reflect increased perception or recall of conditions by the respondents living near the site.

• Research Organization: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Atlanta, GA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6714159
• Report Number(s): PB-90-225640/XAB; ATSDR/HS-90/04
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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