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From the Baltimore Sun
Why was arsenic secret, mayor asks
City to probe tainting of park 30 years ago
By Tom Pelton
Sun reporter
April 21, 2007
Mayor Sheila Dixon announced yesterday that the city will investigate
why high arsenic levels in a South Baltimore park were kept quiet for
more than 30 years.
"Testing in 1976 showed high levels of arsenic in the soil," Dixon
said. "I want to understand why we are only learning about this problem
now."
Heading the inquiry will be the city's health commissioner, Dr. Joshua
M. Sharfstein, who ordered the closure of Swann Park on Thursday after
tests showed arsenic at levels more than 100 times higher than
generally considered safe.
The riverfront park, which is popular among school sport leagues, is
next to a former Allied Chemical Corp. factory that until 1976 used
arsenic to manufacture pesticides, including kepone. Arsenic can cause
cancer and lower IQs in children with prolonged exposure, and kepone is
a toxic nerve-damaging agent, health experts say.
The testing of the park's soil this month was prompted by 31-year-old
Allied company reports. They were turned over to the state this month
as part of negotiations for a new cleanup of the factory site.
The internal company reports - stamped "CONFIDENTIAL and PRIVILEGED" -
show that Allied tested the park in 1976 and found arsenic levels up to
6,600 parts per million behind home base of a baseball diamond.
This was vastly higher than the 1 part per million arsenic level that
Allied officials knew that members of a state, federal and local
cleanup task force thought might be safe, according to a 1976 company
memo.
The Kepone Task Force, which oversaw Allied's control of pollution on
the site, was made up of state, federal and city officials and led by
state health director Donald H. Noren, who wanted discussions about the
pollution kept quiet, according to the memo obtained by The Sun.
"No press or public attendance," at task force meetings, the company
memo said. "The chairman specified that none of the task force members
were to talk to the press. ... The EPA, by public release of
information could change the entire atmosphere."
It's not clear whether the company ever gave the 16-member government
task force the results of its "confidential" internal arsenic test of
the park, or whether the committee ever knew how high the levels there
were, according to state and city officials.
Serious questions
But Sharfstein, the city's health commissioner, said the records raise
"serious questions" about whether the task force was doing its job.
"In general, information about health hazards should be communicated to
the community," he said. "Those minutes raise serious questions about
the task force that was created to look at the health risks of the
park, and that is one thing that we would like to explore further."
The task force reported to Gov. Marvin Mandel and state Health
Secretary Dr. Neil Solomon.
Victoria Streitfeld, a spokeswoman for Honeywell, said yesterday that
her company, which merged with Allied's successor in 1999, turned over
Allied's documents about the pollution site to the state and city April
4.
"None of the former Allied chemical employees who were involved with
the task force are currently with Honeywell, Allied's successor
company," said Streitfeld.
"Honeywell has committed to remediate the site, consistent with current
environmental standards and under the direction of city and state
officials."
The city has asked an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services to investigate the health risks posed by the arsenic in the
park's soil. Tests performed by Honeywell this month, and turned over
to the state April 19, showed arsenic levels of up to 2,200 parts per
million.
Today, many states use 20 ppm as a standard for arsenic cleanup.
"There is really not a realistic risk of overdose of arsenic here -
you'd have to eat a lot of dirt to have that problem," said Sharfstein.
"But low-level exposure to this arsenic over time is a real question,
and that is why we are seeking some expert advice."
Allied Chemical manufactured pesticides at the 2000 Race St. factory,
just north of Swann Park and beside the Middle Branch of the Patapsco
River, from the 1930s until 1976, according to the Maryland Department
of the Environment.
Meanwhile, the ballfields next door were used for decades by Southern
High School sports teams and neighborhood children.
As the company made agricultural chemicals next to the park, it also
used its 6.2-acre industrial site as a dump for other pollutants,
including herbicides, pesticides and lead, according to the state
agency.
In 1958, Allied dumped 200 tons of chromium - carcinogenic waste from a
chrome plant near Fells Point - next to the park, according to the MDE.
The Race Street factory closed in 1976, and the city bought the land in
1977 to facilitate the construction of Interstate 95, which was built
on risers high overhead.
Cracked cap
Allied built a clay and asphalt cap over the factory site, but this
later cracked and might have leaked, said Horacio Tablada, director of
waste management for the MDE.
The park was closed in 1976 because pesticides were found tainting the
soil.
Company records turned over to the state suggest that Allied in 1976
discussed covering part of the contaminated park site with fresh dirt,
but it's not clear whether it did that, Tablada said.
"We don't know how much was done, or if it was done," said Tablada. "We
are now asking for a full site investigation."
The park reopened by 1978, but apparently nobody tested the site for
arsenic until this month, state and city officials said.
The state now plans to make Honeywell pay to clean up the pollution at
both the factory site and the park, as well as to test the river nearby
to see whether it has been contaminated, Tablada said.
Some current and former residents of the neighborhood are nervous about
cancer risk from arsenic.
Robert Hatfield, a 69-year-old retired steelworker, grew up three
blocks from the park and watched an uncle, who worked at the Allied
plant, die of cancer.
"All the kids played ball in the park the whole time they were making
chemicals," said Hatfield.
"They called it cancer alley. But a lot of people in South Baltimore
smoked a lot of cigarettes, and nobody knew whether it was the
cigarettes killing them or the chemicals."
A community meeting is planned for 3 p.m. tomorrow in Digital Harbor
High School. Residents can also get information from a city Web site,
http://www.baltimorehealth.org/swannpark.html.
tom.pelton@baltsun.com
Copyright © 2007, The Baltimore Sun