More Rocketdyne Tests to Be Urged

At a meeting today, federal health officials are prepared to recommend additional research and testing in connection with Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory.

For years, the lab has been under fire by environmentalists and some residents who contend that work on nuclear and rocket testing there has contributed to illnesses and environmental damage.

Kathy Skipper, a spokeswoman for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, would not say Monday whether the agency would recommend conducting a public health assessment. Many of the facility’s critics have been pursuing an assessment in the hope that it could draw links between the release of chemicals and the occurrence of human and environmental mutations.

Skipper said she would not talk specifically about the agency’s recommendations until they have been presented to staffers for U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) at today’s meeting in Washington. “Not that it’s some big, dark secret, but . . . it’s out of respect,” she said.

Agency scientists will also share those recommendations with the public Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Clarion Posada Royale Hotel, 1775 Madera Road in Simi Valley.

“We’ll be recommending some additional activities we think should take place to further examine the possible pathways of exposure,” Skipper said.

Rocketdyne, a division of Boeing Co., no longer tests nuclear energy at the site, but does conduct rocket testing. A multimillion-dollar federal cleanup of the site is underway.

After an initial public meeting earlier this year with officials from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, several residents pushing for a public health assessment said they were doubtful they would get one.