[CPEO-MEF] U.S. Knew About High Arsenic Levels in Spring Valley

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@cpeo.org>]

U.S. Ignored High Arsenic Level at NW Home in Mid-'90s

By Steve Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 25, 2001; Page A01

Federal officials knew more than five years ago that there was a 
dangerously high arsenic reading at a home in Northwest Washington where 
bottles of World War I chemical agent have been recently excavated, but 
they considered it an anomaly and took no steps to remove the soil or warn 
the family living there, according to documents and interviews.

Sampling by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1994 at the home on 
Glenbrook Road found arsenic in the back yard at a level of 241 parts per 
million, more than three times the threshold at which the agency then 
recommended immediate soil removal because of cancer risk.

Thomas and Kathi Loughlin, who lived in the house for six years beginning 
in 1994 and have two young children, said they were not told of the arsenic 
finding until 1999, when they insisted on seeing all documentation.

For the full article go to:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45833-2001Jul24.html
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Aimee R. Houghton
Associate Director, CPEO
122 C Street NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC  20001-2109
tel: 202-662-1888; fax: 202-628-1825
Email: aimeeh@cpeo.org
www.cpeo.org
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