Update on arsenic cleanup for high-risk properties in Phillips neighborhood

BY dennis geisinger

Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have confirmed that nearly half of the Phillips area properties identified as "high risk" for arsenic contamination have been cleaned up.

"We've finished with 95 of the emergency cleanups," said the EPA's on-scene coordinator, Sonia Vega, at a public meeting held July 24 at the Midtown YWCA. "I'm doing my best to make sure that the remaining 102 emergency properties are taken care of in the next couple of years," Vega said.

Beginning in 2001, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) conducted soil investigations in the residential neighborhood to the northwest of a former Chicago-Milwaukee Corp. (CMC) pesticide storage site at Hiawatha Avenue and 28th Street East. Arsenic contamination was discovered on the property in 1994 during Hiawatha Avenue Corridor reconstruction

According to the EPA, organic arsenic occurs naturally in soil and minerals and may enter the air, water, and land from wind-blown dust and get into water from runoff and leaching. The local naturally occurring background level for arsenic is somewhere between 10 and 17 parts per million (ppm). "High risk" or emergency sites are those identified as having acute levels of 95 ppm or more of inorganic or man-made arsenic.

"Five of the properties that were tested had very high levels, over 100 ppm, and at least one property tested over 300 ppm," said Vega.

At the meeting, Tanya Young, who lives near 24th Avenue South and 34th Street, raised health concerns about her teenage daughter who she said had grown up playing in neighborhood yards. Young said that a property across the street from her was one of those identified as having soil with an arsenic concentration of 95 ppm or more.

Children are especially subject to the effects of exposure to high levels of arsenic in soil because it is most harmful when ingested.

According to information provided by the EPA, "Children may be more susceptible to health effects of inorganic arsenic than adults." Some studies suggest that children may be less efficient at converting inorganic arsenic to the less harmful organic forms, and that long-term exposure to arsenic in children may result in lower IQ scores.

Evidence has shown that inhaled or ingested arsenic can injure pregnant women or their unborn babies, although studies are not definitive, says the EPA. Studies with animals showing large doses of arsenic causing illness in pregnant females have also shown effects like low birth weight, fetal malformations, and even fetal death. Arsenic can cross the placenta and has been found in fetal tissues.
Other studies have shown that ingestion of inorganic arsenic can increase the risk of skin cancer and cancer in the lungs, bladder, liver, kidney and prostate. Inhaling inorganic arsenic can increase the risk of lung cancer. Agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and the EPA have classified inorganic arsenic as a carcinogen.

"We've been approached by a number of people who have come forward with health concerns at the meetings we've held over the past few years," said Rita Messing of the state health department, although she admitted that she had not kept track of how many.

"Arsenic doesn't stay in a person's system very long--- about a week," said Messing.

A urine test is the most reliable test for arsenic exposure within the last few days. Tests on hair and fingernails can measure exposure to high levels of arsenic over the past 6-12 months. MDH says that these tests can determine if you have been exposed to above-average levels of arsenic but cannot predict how the arsenic levels in your body will affect your health.

"The MDH is not encouraging individuals to get tested for arsenic at this time," says the state health department's website. "If you decide to get tested for arsenic, it is likely that low concentrations of arsenic will be found in human hair, blood, and urine samples due to dietary sources," according to information from the website.

The EPA added the cleanup site to the National Priority List (NPL) last year. When additional soil study has been completed in September, it may be designated as a Superfund Site and thus be eligible for more federal funds towards the cleanup effort.

Cleanup work has stopped for the weekends as of Aug. 1, the EPA announced last week. With operations at the site costing more than $15,000 a day, it wasn't cost effective when the disposal facility for contaminated soil as well as the source for clean backfill material closed on weekends, according to the announcement.