By Sean Robinson, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Aug. 22--The letters from Asarco offer free medical tests, but Elaine Wagner, 63, never takes them.
'I've probably got arsenic in me,' she said, 'but I'm really afraid to go check. I'm afraid to know.'
On Thursday, Wagner's hands were stained with dirt. She was building a deck in the Highland Park neighborhood, not far from a site where state inspectors recently tested soil and found concentrations of arsenic that reached 475 parts per million.
That number exceeds the 230-ppm cleanup threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency for neighborhoods around Asarco's former copper smelter in Ruston, and the state's lower threshold of 20 parts per million. But experts say the numbers don't present an immediate threat to public health.
'The levels found in these samples should not be an immediate health threat if people take proper precautions, but long-term exposure to the contaminants is a public health concern,' said Jim White, a toxicologist with the state Department of Health.
Precautions include mopping and vacuuming the house several times a week, taking shoes off at the door, and washing children's toys, bedding and pacifiers.
'These are just suggestions -- a way to minimize the amount of dust in the home,' said Glenn dfRollins of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. 'It's up to the individual lifestyles.'
The latest samples collected by the state Department of Ecology and the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department continue a $1.65 million study of wind-borne arsenic and lead contamination from the smelter, which closed in 1985. The study is scheduled for completion next spring.
Earlier tests conducted in King County showed concentrations ranging from 260 parts per million on the mainland to 460 parts per million on Vashon and Maury islands.
'We're just picking up the rest of the footprint,' said Marian Abbett, project manager for the Department of Ecology.
The new samples from Pierce County, taken with the permission of property owners, came from 116 undisturbed sites and residential properties with homes built before 1970 within the prevailing wind direction of the smelter. Each property owner received their results by letter.
DOE officials would not release the names of individual property owners who participated in the study, but test results show arsenic ranging from 2.46 ppm up to 475.
Officials note that a high result from one sample does not mean adjoining properties will show the same contamination level.
Asarco sends letters to residents in the neighborhoods around the smelter, offering free tests for arsenic contamination. Wagner has received several.
An avid gardener who calls herself a plantaholic, she has lived in the area since 1995. She rarely wears gloves, but she's getting more careful. She jokes about trying to avoid eating dirt.
Officials worry more about people swallowing arsenic-tainted dirt than breathing it. Children who play in dirt are believed to be at highest risk.
A child whose yard contains 200-400 ppm of arsenic could swallow 40-80 micrograms (millionths of a gram) of the toxic metal each day. According to the National Research Council, a lifetime of such exposure could lead to a cancer risk of about one in 100.
Erin Swortz, 29, brought her two children and her nephew to Vassault Park on Thursday, near an area where state test results show an arsenic concentration of 233 ppm. Swortz lives near the park, and her husband has worked as a soils engineer.
'I'm not too concerned with what's going on,' she said. 'If it was high risk, I think my husband would be moving his family. My kids aren't eating enough dirt to get sick.'
When the soils study is complete, the state and the area health department plan to take more tests in child-use areas, such as playgrounds, schools and day-care centers. The state hopes to find enough money to remove or cap arsenic-tainted soil in those areas.
In Tacoma, the EPA ordered Asarco to clean up yards with arsenic concentrations of 230 ppm or greater. The state's cleanup standard is 20 ppm, based on natural background levels.
Though some samples show results higher than the acceptable concentration, state officials admit there is little they can do about it other than offer advice. Asarco is trying to avoid bankruptcy, and federal and state toxic cleanup funds are scarce.
'The state does not have sufficient funds to do it all,' Abbett said. 'That's the million-dollar question. That's what we're grappling with, is how to deal with this large area.'
Ruth Brewster, 83, lives near an area where the state found arsenic concentration of 440 parts per million. Like Wagner, she received Asarco's letters. Unlike Wagner, she got herself tested.
'I came out all right,' she said. 'I suppose I should be concerned, but at my age, I'm not.'
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(c) 2002, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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