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« Future generations to face rising infertility rates | Main | Not a drop to drink--Part 1: Down the drain »
Protecting our children shouldn't be this difficult
This is what it's come to: In a neighborhood in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, residents are being advised to avoid all contact with dirt and dust. The soil in Durrs is so contaminated with toxic chemicals resulting from a garbage incinerator that, for years, blanketed the future sites of buildings, yards and parks with a layer of ash.
Here's a money quote for you:
City officials repeatedly have stressed that a report on the site claims the level of contamination found does not present a public health hazard, although people are warned against breathing the dust. [Emphasis mine]
Boy, that sounds on the up-and-up. "No really, it's fine! We promise! Just don't breathe, okay?"
Soil in come areas of the neighborhood contains 240 parts per trillion dioxin -- one of the most toxic chemicals in existence and a potent carcinogen. According to state law, the dioxin levels are 34 times those that should trigger a cleanup.
But so far there is no cleanup, because no one -- not the city or the state -- is willing to pay for them. An attorney has pressed charges on behalf of residents of Durrs, but in a neighborhood where children can't play in the park without risking exposure to toxic chemicals it should not take a lawsuit to get the mess cleaned up.
The attorney pressing charges calls it "disgusting," and she's right. It's also absolutely shameful.
Photo by Remuse.
In response to an article called, "Protecting our children shouldn't be this difficult." From Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where the residents are being advised to avoid all contact with dirt and dust in Durrs.
It is reported that soil in some areas of the Durrs neighborhood contains 240 parts per trillion of the chemical dioxin -- the very same chemical still found in the soil of CFB Gagetown New Brunswick and is considered to be one of the most toxic chemicals in existence and a potent carcinogen. According to Florida state law, these tests showed the dioxin levels to be 34 times the acceptable levels and would have under normal circumstances automatically triggered a cleanup.
Gagetown Veterans and civilian Victims alike can only shake our heads in total disbelief as it now seems that we have been incorrectly told by the Cantox Environmental report completed for the Base Gagetown and Area Fact Finding Project (BGAFFP) that the over 600 parts per trillion still found at CFB Gagetown was safe for all uses by training soldiers.
The Canadian Government based their reopening of the contaminated areas as well as many of their restrictions on who would be eligible for compensation on this report, only now to be proven internationally flawed and based on what could only be considered the incorrect data used by Cantox.
If 240 Parts per trillion are unsafe for people in Florida to even make contact with the dust and/or soil, no scientist in the world should be claiming that over 600 parts per trillion is safe for Canadian Soldiers to train, dig trenches and sleep on the ground in.
Maybe it is time to have a full Public Inquiry into not only the spraying itself but into in my opinion companies who seem to ignore Canadian Environmental regulations for profit and also to the associated companies who collect monies to cover it up or to down play the dangers of these poisons.
Cpl. Kenneth H. Young CD (Ret'd).
3205 Telescope Terrace
Nanaimo, BC
V9T-3V4
Tel - 250-758-8837
kentar@telus.net
A proud member of the (AOAC)
Agent Orange Association of Canada
The CFB Gagetown Agent Orange petition is located at
www.petitiononline.com/aoalert