Details about this story

• Source: Living On Earth
• Date: February 22, 2008
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: Ingrid Lobet
• Topics: Environment , Safety , Disasters
• Data Types: Federal Data
• Description/Excerpt: Living On Earth obtained the electronic records for twenty-four thousand post-Katrina soil samples taken by EPA in Louisiana. Of the thousands of tests, the sample taken closest to the Leonards' front porch showed the highest concentrations of several dangerous pesticides: the termite killer Chlordane, DDT, Dieldrin, Endrin and Endosulfan. The EPA agrees the test results are over the threshold of concern. But it doesn't believe the neighborhood needs a cleanup. Jon Rauscher, the EPA toxicologist who assessed the risk, says the levels in Gert Town would cause fewer than one extra cancer in ten thousand people.