Portland Air Called Safe Despite Presence of Metal Emissions

It's okay to garden in Southeast Portland but you mt want to wash your hands carefully.

That's one of the takeaways from a press conference held by the Oregon Health Authority, the state's Department of Environmental Quality, and the Multnomah County Health Department.

The press conference was held to release the results of new testing of the air and soil in the area around Bullseye Technology, a small glass manufacturer in Southeast Portland.

Last month it became public that a study had found elevated levels of certain toxic metals including arsenic, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium.

Officials did say that they are still studying lung and bladder cancer rates dating back to 1999 in both Southeast Portland and North Portland, where a second glass company, Uroboros, is located.

That information will be disclosed on March 31.

The results announced Wednesday were based on the results off 67 soil samples in three separate areas around Bullseye - at Fred Meyer corporate headquarters, at Powell Park, and at the Children's Creative Learning Center.

"This is only the first round," said the interim director of DEQ, Joni Hammond.

We will see more soil and air data in the coming weeks."

Hammond recently took over after the previous director stepped down recently citing, "health concerns."

According to a release from the three agencies, this is what was found:

"Arsenic
Arsenic was at background levels in most samples from the Powell Park and Fred Meyer locations, and averaged below Portland-area background levels. It was found at slightly above background levels at the CCLC day care.

Hexavalent chromium
Levels of hexavalent chromium, or chromium 6, varied at the three locations. Concentrations were low at Powell Park and not detected at Fred Meyer, but averaged above DEQ screening levels at CCLC, although they were still below federal screening levels.

Cadmium and lead
While some of the locations showed modest levels of lead and cadmium above background, concentrations averaged below all screening levels. No contamination was detected in Powell Park mulch samples."

Officials said that while arsenic and chromium were present, they were not found at a level to cause health concerns.

"That means it's now okay for people to get into their gardens," the toxicologist for the Health Authority's Environmental Public Health Section, David Ferrer, said.

The results of soil samples taken near Uroboros will be released next week along with the full analysis of 30-day air sampling near both factories.