Study finds lead, arsenic contamination in dust in Sydney homes

OTTAWA (CP) - Testing has found significant levels of toxic lead and arsenic in the household dust of homes near the tar ponds in Sydney, N.S., says a report done for the Sierra Club.

The levels of contamination would produce a one to 15 per cent increase in the risk of health problems, said Timothy Lambert, professor of community health science at the University of Calgary. Lead contamination can reduce intelligence in children and is suspected of causing behavioural problems. Arsenic can cause cancer.

"There is a low, but significant, health risk from exposure to lead and arsenic in the soil and house dust," said Lambert, who did the study free of charge on his vacation.

But Parker Donham, a spokesman for the Nova Scotia agency which deals with the tar ponds, discounted the study, saying it looks at a secondary indicator - dust and soil - rather than what really matters; actual blood contamination.

Donham said the Nova Scotia government carried out extensive blood and urine testing of pregnant women and children in the affected neighbourhoods in 2001 and found no problems.

"Not a single one had elevated levels of lead," said Donham. "What he (Lambert) is saying is, 'it might rain yesterday,' when you already know that it didn't."

But Lambert said the government blood tests did show that children were carrying enough lead and arsenic to pose a slight risk to their health.

"They found seven children out of 180 with levels between five and 10 (micrograms of lead per decaliter)," Lambert said in an interview. "That's close to my prediction."

The provincial government said 10 micrograms per decaliter is the internationally accepted safe level for such contamination. Lambert, though, said the safe limit should be half that.

He said the levels of arsenic and lead in soil were about 10 to 100 times higher than in non-contaminated areas, and well above the Canadian threshold for cleanup.

Sierra Club director Elizabeth May, who went on a hunger strike to publicize the tar ponds problem in 2001, maintains that people who live near the site should be relocated.

But the Nova Scotia and federal government say the health risk is minimal, and that a cleanup will be conducted once a decision has been made on the appropriate method.

The Sydney tar ponds, which hold contaminants produced for years by a steel mill and a coke oven, are Canada's most notorious toxic waste site. The cleanup effort has gone on for many years and has been dogged by problems.

A multi-million-dollar facility was built to burn contaminated sludge, but the the stuff was too thick to flow through the pipeline that was to transport it to the incinerator.

Subsequently the population rejected the incineration option, and the facility is unlikely to ever be used. Public consultations on the cleanup are currently under way.

Donham said about 800 community meetings have been held but no decisions have yet been reached on how to proceed.