U.S. Department of Health and Human Services finds contamination in Baltimore park and neighborhood a public health hazard

October 31, 2007 - Areport from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released last week found that significant and lengthy exposure to the soil in Baltimore's Swann Park is a "public health hazard" and poses a slightly elevated risk of cancer. The park, which was contaminated for years as a result of its proximity to a pesticide-producing factory, has been closed since April, when tests found high levels of arsenic in the soil.

The new report may or may not change a major remediation plan to restore the park by sometime next year. But it underscores the importance of dealing with the consequences of contamination in the neighborhood and not just in the park.

Last week's report raised more of an alarm than a preliminary federal report issued in June that found no public health hazard unless children had eaten at least a tablespoon of dirt. But federal officials now suggest that people who spent at least 180 days a year in the park - such as children in baseball leagues, coaches and groundskeepers - and who may have inhaled dirt particles or touched the soil and then touched their mouths might have a greater risk of cancer.

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