But U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials say the thorium is limited to Riess' basement, and likely hasn't caused anyone harm.
EPA officials said the finding is a "new discovery" unconnected to the other 116 residents who recently learned in letters from the government that there might be buried residual thorium on their properties. The contamination may have been left over from a 1980s cleanup and missed during a second examination in the 1990s.
Kerr-McGee Co. inadvertently distributed thorium throughout West Chicago for several decades. The substance, a byproduct of a closed factory that made gaslight mantles, was used as fill for construction of many homes in West Chicago. Riess owns one of the properties originally decontaminated by Kerr-McGee in the 1980s.
2 comments:
I am Sandy Riess, the resident who lives in the house - along with my husband, Rich. And, our 2 young Newfoundlands - 1 we got immediately after our 1st guy passed suddenly (before we knew about the other 2 having bone cancer) - the 2nd little one got dropped in our front yard because the "stupid" people who bought him didn't know what to do with a giant breed! NOW, I worry minute by minute about ALL of our health!!
I recognize that multi-billion dollar corporations couldn't care less about the people affected by these issues BUT what about the Government?? Am I so totally misconstrued that I still feel they are here to help the citizens?? Somewhere, something has gone miserably wrong with this country!
I love how the Daily Herald has pulled down the articles on this topic. Wouldn't want to hurt home values in the area!
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