By: Jenna Beresheim News Editor
Back in May 2015, Oregon regulators discovered that federal researchers located heavy metals in moss samples throughout the Portland area. However, these regulators did not partake in their own testing until October.
The culprits were later detected as Bullseye Glass Company, a glass company promoted for the use of colored glass in art and architecture, and Uroboros Glass Studio, which manufactures glass for lamps, architectures, and kiln forming.
Results for testing Bullseye came back in January with shocking results: 159 times the safety goal of arsenic in the air, and 49 times the safety goal for cadmium.
Cadmium poses risks of lung cancer and kidney damage, while arsenic offers lung, skin, and bladder cancers.
Other elevated levels of toxic metals, such as lead and nickel, also became apparent with more testing across the Portland areas.
The amount of toxicity has become so bad in areas that residents within a half-mile of the two glass factories are encouraged to withhold from eating food grown in backyard gardens.
Another health recommendation is to wash hands after coming in contact with soil found within contaminated areas.
“It’s crazy that people can’t even eat from their gardens – it’s against everything Portland,” said Leanne Cook, a Western alumna who commutes from Portland to work at the National Center on Deaf-Blindness.
“I live right in the heart of the affected area but wish I could say I noticed a difference, I know there is one, but I can’t tell that there is,” Cook explained. “It’s frustrating to know that long-term this could have major effects on Portlandians’ lives.”
One woman speaking out against her current health problems is Sarah Livingstone, a Portland resident who lives just five blocks away from Bullseye.
“This past month I had three trips to the ER for not being able to breathe right,” Livingstone reported to the Oregonian.
Livingstone later revealed that doctors had discovered fluid in the lining of her lungs on Jan. 23 and had asked her to hold off on her second pregnancy.
“I feel like it hasn’t been talked about enough,” Cook defends, “I’m trying not to think about it.”
Kate Brown followed up with the findings, stating that she expected ‘rapid action’ from environmental regulators, as well as more money from legislature to deal with the current amount of air pollution.
Currently, both companies have voluntarily stopped the usage of such chemicals in their production of glass while more soil tests are underway.
For a short, informational video on the topic at hand, click here: http://bit.ly/1WHGjZ8
Contact the author at jberesheim11@wou.edu or on Twitter @WOUjournalnews
