Heavy metals present risk at mine

BROOKSVILLE – A recent federal study has identified exposure to heavy metals as the key health risk to people from the Callahan mine.

The public health assessment by the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, however, notes that exposures to heavy metals from the abandoned site are infrequent and for short periods of time and are not expected to affect the health of people in the area.

The report does recommend additional studies on fish and shellfish found near the mine site in order to determine whether health problems could develop from eating the seafood.

ATSDR, an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services, is required to conduct public health assessments on all sites proposed for the National Priorities List, also known as the Superfund list, which includes the most serious hazardous waste sites. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency placed the abandoned mine site on the Superfund list last fall.

The site was contaminated by metals from open-pit mining operations between 1968 and 1972. Elevated levels of heavy metals, including cadmium, copper, lead and zinc, have been measured in surface water, sediments, soil, waste piles on-site, and in fish and shellfish from the area.

According to Jill Dyken, an ATSDR health assessor in Atlanta who helped prepare the assessment, the infrequent use of the site lessens the danger from those metals.

“Right now, no one is going on the site every day,” Dyken said.

Because of that, the health threat is not as serious as it could be.

Frequent, long-term use of the site, however, could increase the risk of cancer, she said.

Several contaminants found at the site are known to accumulate in fish and shellfish, according to the assessment, which notes that there was not enough information available to determine whether there is a health risk from eating seafood collected from the area.

On the basis of limited data, the assessment suggested that people who occasionally eat mussels from Goose Cove, located near the mine, “are not likely to experience adverse health effects.” It also stressed that collecting or eating shellfish from the area’s waters already is banned because of elevated levels of metals and other pollution.

The report recommends that law enforcement agencies increase their vigilance to ensure that the ban is maintained.

The assessment also recommends that the EPA or other agencies conduct more extensive sampling to determine the concentrations of heavy metals in the tissue of fish and shellfish in the area. It also recommends conducting a study of background samples to determine the naturally occurring concentrations of heavy metals in the Brooksville area.

Dyken said the agency would continue to work with the EPA and other agencies in analyzing the samples and in making recommendations for the cleanup of the site.

The agency is seeking public comment on the report through March 15 and has sent several copies to the town. They are available at the Brooksville Public Service Building. Any comments will be included in the final assessment report.

“If we get a significant amount of community concern, we may plan another meeting to present the report and to talk one-on-one with them,” Dyken said.

Comments can be sent to: Chief, Program Evaluation, Records and Information Services Branch, ATSDR, 1600 Clifton Road, NE (MS E-32), Atlanta, Ga. 30333.