Monday, March 12, 2012

Author: Duane Craig

The Environmental Protection Agency is hunting for the sources of soil, air and water pollution that may be contributing to a cluster of cancer cases in Sandusky County, Ohio. Thirty-five children have been diagnosed with cancer in a 12-mile radius in that county since the mid-1990s, and four have died, according to this report in The News-Messenger.com.

The agency is collecting soil, air and water samples at 14 industrial and dump sites in that county. To date, state and local health officials have been unable to find something explaining the cause of the cancer cluster. There is also an effort underway to involve local people in the search for the causes of environmental contamination. Besides reviewing past investigations, there’ll be a confidential hotline set up where people can report dump sites and dumping practices that are illegal.

According to the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory from 2002, the top three pollutants released in Sandusky County were nitric acid, hydrofluoric acid and chromium compounds. Other large releases to the environment included pyridine, nickel compounds, zinc compounds, glycol ethers, ammonia and ethylene glycol.

No comments: