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School's soil to be
re-tested
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Sat, Nov 24, 2007
By ELLEN ROBINSON - The Brunswick News
Environmentalists and school officials are waiting to hear if the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency will re-test the soil at Altama Elementary
School for toxaphene, a carcinogen.
Toxaphene, produced by Hercules in Brunswick from the 1940s until the early
1980s, is a pesticide that is banned worldwide.
The Glynn Environmental Coalition, an environmental watchdog organization,
has been joined by Superintendent of Glynn County Schools Michael Bull in
asking that the federal agency test the school grounds for any presence of
the cancer-causing chemical.
The school is in close proximity to the former Hercules 009 toxaphene
Superfund site.
"We are asking if children are at risk right now," said Bill Owens,
president of the coalition. "We hope there is not a problem, but we need
facts and not just hope to assure the school is free of toxic chemicals."
Glynn County School Board member Millard Allen, a mentor at the school, says
the community deserves an answer.
"We don't expect they will find anything bad, but we need to know," he said.
"We don't want to put the children at risk."
Daniel Parshley, project manager for the Glynn Environmental Coalition,
approached the school board in July after the EPA declined a re-test of the
soil.
Parshley contended that testing the EPA conducted in 2006 did not
specifically measure for all 670 chemical components of toxaphene.
Laura Niles, spokesperson for EPA Region 4 office in Atlanta, said tests for
contamination in soil and air are not as comprehensive as they are for
water.
She said water and fish are the most significant pathways to human exposure.
She said EPA's response to the joint request is pending.
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P. O. Box 2443