Health Risk Assessments Released for Sydney Properties
TRANSPORTATION/PUBLIC WORKS--Health Risk Assessments Released for Sydney Properties
People living north of the Sydney coke ovens site can safely remain in their homes and in their community.
"This chronic health risk assessment report generally found that any potential health risk from exposure to chemicals is very low," said Dr. Jeff Scott, Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health. "With this knowledge, and the results of the recent biological testing program, I am confident that it is as safe to live in Sydney as is it is to live in other similar urban communities in Nova Scotia."
The chronic health risk assessment was prepared by toxicologists and risk-assessment experts from JDAC Environment Ltd., based on data collected over a six-month period, and including thousands of soil samples, site inspections and interviews with the owners or residents of 124 properties.
"This risk assessment is intentionally cautious. For example we over-estimated the risks by at least 100 times through a series of carefully considered assumptions," explained Stephen Esposito, JDAC's project manager for the risk assessment program.
"One of our assumptions is that a six-month-old infant lives in each home and in the course of playing outdoors will eat 80 milligrams of soil every day--in summer and in winter-- throughout their toddler years," said Bruce Fishman, who together with toxicologist Bryan Leece, planned and implemented the report. "Another assumption was that each person in these homes will be directly exposed to the soil for 70 years."
This risk assessment was extensively peer reviewed and checked through stringent quality assurance and quality control procedures during every aspect of the process. In keeping with this precautionary approach, the chronic health risk assessment recommends remedial work on 71 properties. Remediation may consist of excavating and replacing topsoil in yards, basements or crawl spaces and sealing any cracks in basement floors or walls.
In response to the recommendations, governments will immediately offer a voluntary remediation program, as recommended, for the properties involved in the risk assessment.
Soil quality from properties near the coke ovens site was compared with findings in North Sydney, which is 10 kilometres away and is an urban centre not affected by past emissions from steel production in Sydney.
Average lead and arsenic levels in soil around homes north of the coke ovens are marginally higher than in North Sydney. However, extensive biological testing this past summer of Sydney children, pregnant women and other residents showed that their exposure to lead and arsenic is the same as or lower than that for people in other communities in Canada, the United States and Europe.
Starting today, teams including experts in risk assessment, toxicology and public health, along with government officials, will meet privately with owners and residents of properties that were included in the chronic health risk assessment to explain their report, answer questions and review remedial options. Where the property owner agrees, remedial work will be carried out in the coming months.