Toxic Playground Cover-Up

Officials in Baltimore announced yesterday that the Allied Chemical Company deliberately withheld test results showing high arsenic levels in a city park three decades ago. According to officials, Allied Chemical let the city falsely believe that arsenic levels in Swann Park were vastly lower than reality and had come from typical weed killer application. In actuality, says the city's report, Allied researchers had discovered arsenic levels in the park's soil as high as 10,000 parts per million (the state's current criteria for arsenic clean-up in residential areas is a mere 20 ppm). The company's pesticide plant, adjacent to the park, had belched arsenic-laden residue on the playground that observers say was sometimes "like snow." The pesticide factory closed in 1976, and the park was reopened shortly after, playing host to many children and adult visitors in the subsequent years, including the local high school football team. Maryland officials say they do not know what the specific health effects of the arsenic on people visiting the park might have been. However, they point out that exposures as high as 10,000 ppm is generally thought to be dangerous. The events surrounding Swann Park underscore how crucial it is for citizens to maintain vigilance over formerly toxic sites, as well as potential new ones. It's clear that independent testing is essential for any suspected hazardous waste sites, especially those on which children routinely play. Government regulators must be held to task for conducting their own studies, and cannot simply take industry's word on toxic releases at face value.

Read more at The Baltimore Sun.

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