[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 76 (Wednesday, April 21, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19542-19543]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-9927]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Hanford Thyroid Morbidity Study Advisory Committee: Meeting
In accordance with section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory
Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463), the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) announces the following meeting.
Name: Hanford Thyroid Morbidity Study Advisory Committee.
Times and Date: 1 p.m.-5 p.m., May 6, 1999; 7 p.m.-9 p.m., May
6, 1999.
Place: Doubletree Hotel Seattle Airport, 18740 Pacific Highway
South, Seattle, Washington 98188, telephone 206/246-8600, fax 206/
431-8687.
Status: Open to the public, limited only by the space available.
The meeting room will accommodate approximately 200 people.
Purpose
The CDC and investigators from Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center (FHCRC) will present and discuss findings of the
Hanford Thyroid Disease Study and appropriate activities to follow-up
study results to the Hanford Thyroid Morbidity Study Advisory
Committee. The Committee will continue in evening session at 7 p.m.,
with a presentation by CDC, and/or its contractor, on the findings of
the Hanford Thyroid Disease Study Draft Final Report and to allow more
time for public input and comment. The purpose of the study was to
determine if there was an increased risk for thyroid disease among a
randomly selected study population exposed to atmospheric releases of
radioactive iodine-131 (I-131) from the Hanford Nuclear Site in eastern
Washington State during the 1940s and 1950s. The study, mandated by
Congress, was conducted by a team of scientists at the FHCRC under
contract from the CDC.
Background
In 1986, Freedom of Information Act requests led the Department of
Energy to make public thousands of pages of documentation indicating
that large quantities of radioactive materials were released into the
atmosphere from the Hanford Nuclear Site. The radioactivity was a
byproduct of nuclear weapons production from December 1944 through
1957. Most of the radioactivity was released in the form of I-131,
which concentrates in the thyroid glands of those who eat food
contaminated by it. The amount of I-131 released during this period was
more than half a million curies, prompting concern regarding thyroid
health effects. The government convened a special Hanford Health
Effects Review Panel to review the documents and recommend steps to
evaluate possible health consequences among those who live near the
Hanford Site.
Two studies were undertaken as a result of these recommendations.
The first was the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project
which estimated potential radiation doses to the thyroid among persons
exposed to Hanford I-131 releases. The second was the Hanford Thyroid
Disease Study. This study was designed to determine whether the
exposures from Hanford resulted in an increased risk of thyroid disease
in a randomly selected study population. In late 1989, a contract to
perform this study was awarded to the FHCRC.
CONTACT PERSONS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: General information may be
obtained from Mr. Mike Donnelly, Project Officer, Radiation Studies
Branch (RSB), Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects
(DEHHE), National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), CDC, 4770
Buford Highway, NE, (F-35), Atlanta, Georgia 30341-3724, telephone 770-
488-7040, fax 770-488-7044. Technical information may be obtained from
Dr. Paul Garbe, RSB, DEHHE, NCEH, CDC, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, (F-35),
Atlanta, Georgia 30341-3724, telephone 770-488-7040, fax 770-488-7044.
The Director, Management Analysis and Services Office, has been
delegated the authority to sign Federal Register notices pertaining to
announcements of meetings and other committee management activities,
for both CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
[[Page 19543]]
Dated: April 15, 1999.
Carolyn J. Russell,
Director, Management Analysis and Services Office, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC).
[FR Doc. 99-9927 Filed 4-20-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P
