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WATER GREMLIN PUBLIC HEALTH A5SE55MENT. PUBLIC COMMENT DRAFT ihfants.per yearly cohort (range: 0-7) were diagnosed with congenital heart defects, These observed numbers do not appear different from expected numbers (range: 2-5) based on prevalence estimates available for Minnesota. The numbers of septai defects (affecting atria or ventricles) — the.most common congenital heart defects in Minnesota were consistent in babies born to residents in zip code 55110 over the 14 birth cohorts as compared to other parts of the state.. While the conclusions. drawn from this data analys.is..should provide some assurance that the number of congenital heart defects for the 2005 to.2019. birth cohorts in the 55110 zip code. is not unusual, it is important to know that the BD15 data also have limitations. • Minnesota.'s birth defects survelliance program is in an. early stage of development. It takes many years to.collect enough data to be able to identify trends i.n the occurrence of birth defects because they are relatively rare; and:therefore, small,.random changes can appear to have a significant effect on such rates. Inthe. shortterm. Unless the differences:.were large, it would be difficult to discern any differences. in occurrence from one location to another given the low numbers of congenital heart defects and the small population potentially exposed to. TCE from.the facility (in the southern.portion of zip code 55110). • The re are many possible sources of environmental exposures that could contributeAo.iiirth defects: risk and are unknown and unaccounted for. 1n a population group as large as the zip code 55110. • Residence witltiin a zip code is an. imprecise proxy for potential exposureto TCE from Water Gremlin and variability in exposures among pregnant women who lived 1nthe.55110 zip code would likely be. considerable (potentially ranging fromno exposure to the highest estimates predicted). • The origin of congenital heart defectsis complex and poorly understood: C. Community Blood Lead Levels Community members expressedconcern that lead from Water Grem] in's operations .could have been mishandled (including allegations of illegal. dumping on or off site). and asked whether the public may have been exposed to harmful ania.unts.of lead from the facility. MDH's.lea d.surveiI[ance..program was asked whether lead testing results compiledin the Blood Lead Information System (BL1S) database could. help address these concerns. MDH evaluated BLIS data for the 55110 zip code (see Figure..13 below). Because rnost lead exposure in Minnesota can be traced back to lead -based paint in older homes, M D H used the bordering zip codes of 55082, 55109, and 55115 for comparison because housing ages and median household incomes were .similar to.55110. MDH obtained data from B.LIS fo.r blood specimens drawn between January 1; 2000.and March 18, 2019 for residents of these four zip codes. An elevated. blood lead level (EBLL) was defined.as 5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dQ or greater —the value currently used. bythe U.S. Centers. for Disease Control :and Prevention to identify children who have higher levels of exposure to lead than most children. EBLL rates :decreased in all four zip codes over time -For adults, the 55110 zip.co.de s..howed higher EBLL rates than the comparison zip codes. However, when known .employees of Water Gremlin were excluded from the analysis, there were. no sign if.'icant differences in EBLL between 55110 and the comparison zip codes. People known to be employees of'Water Gremlin were twice %as.Iikely to live in 55110 as the comparison area,.which accounts for this trend.: 44