MacEwan downplays arsenic danger
By AMY SMITH
and TERA CAMUS
Staff Reporters

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Cape Breton Nova MLA Paul McEwan says arsenic-laced yellow ooze seeping out of the ground in his riding is only dangerous if swallowed.
"If I had a bowl of arsenic here in my hand, and even if I put my finger in it and rubbed it on myself, I would not be poisoned," the Liberal MLA told reporters Tuesday at the legislature.
"And if you ever read any novels about ladies who poison their husbands that way, they put arsenic into their tea. They didn't put it on the table in a bowl. You have to swallow it."
But Elizabeth Brown, a nurse at the Poison Control Centre in Halifax, said the poison can also be absorbed through the skin, by inhalation, and through the eyes. Toxicity depends on how much arsenic is in the substance.
Mr. macEwan said he first saw the yellow substance six weeks ago in Sydney, near Frederick Street in the neighborhood of Whitney Pier. The MLA said he was the one who called Environment Canada to do the testing.
When asked if the residents should be moved, Mr. MacEwan said he is waiting for the test results to be studied.
Environment Canada officials warned several residents of the area Thursday night that a nearby brook contained extreme levels of arsenic. The brook runs parallel to rail tracks that border the toxic coke ovens site.
The arsenic issue was brought up Tuesday in the House by New Democrat Helen MacDonald, who said soil tests from a railway bed near Frederick Street revealed arsenic 18.5 times higher than guidelines established by the Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment.
"These federal testing reports certainly indicate that this level of concentration is way to high and certainly had nothing to do with natural occurences," she said. "This is definitely unacceptable."
Mr. MacEwan said the New Democrats were using this issue to grandstand.
"The involvement of the NDP on this is pure opportunism," he said, "But what else is new?"
Ms MacDonald asked Environment Minister Don Downe whether the province will compensate affected residents so they can leave the area until the matter is settled.
Mr. Downe said Environment Canada is monitoring the situation and evaluating the test results to determine the source and severity of the problem.
In Sydney on Tuesday, a handful of residents living on the street were told arsenic levels taken in soil near the site were lower than first recorded.
But Health and Environment officials from both levels of government refused to release the new figures in fear of having them misinterpreted by media and residents who attended the meeting uninvited.
A Devco spokesman who oversaw the new sampling near company tracks that run parallel to the contaminated brook suggested the first test results could have been overestimated.
The first samples taken on Frederick Street recorded arsenic levels of 222.5 parts per billion, or 18.5 times higher than acceptable limits.
environment and Health officials will visit Frederick Street today for an on-site inspection.
Six air-monitoring devices were put near the site Monday by the provincial Department of Transportation to record airborn toxins and metals such as arsenic and boron as well as polyaromatic hydrocarbons.
A letter from Dr. Jeff Scott, the province's chief medical officer of health, was read by Transportation officials. In it, Dr. Scott warned that arsenic is hazardous to human health and could be ingested by eating food planted in contaminated ground, drinking toxic water or inhaling dust with high arsenic levels. "It's prudent to avoid the site," he wrote.
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