Three Oregon legislators appealed on Monday to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for help in assessing the public health threat from Portland's toxic air.
U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Portland, all Democrats, sent a letter Monday to the CDC asking for immediate assistance. They want federal authorities to aid county and state officials who are investigating soil pollution, tracking residents exposed to risk and analyzing health threats.
"There is a concerning lack of data on the localized concentration of these contaminants and the length of time residents may have been exposed," they wrote.
The letter asks the CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to help screen residents for heavy metal exposure, test soil, establish a centralized information center and sort through soil decontamination methods and other public health needs.
"We ask that you deploy a team of public health professionals to Oregon to work closely with state and local authorities," the letter said.
The CDC often deploys investigators to help with local public health threats. In Portland, federal authorities have already been a big help at meetings and on conference calls, said Dr. Paul Lewis, health officer for Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties.
"If we have learned anything in these past few days, it is that air quality and health concerns around heavy metal exposure are complicated." Lewis said in an email. "This will take time, and we are going to need both breadth and depth to get it done."
The legislators got involved after hearing concerns expressed by residents, Wyden said in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive.
"I have heard those concerns repeatedly from neighbors throughout the city and that's why we want federal health officials to help us get answers as quickly as possible," he said.
State air monitoring found high levels of cadmium and arsenic near Bullseye Glass in Southeast Portland after moss tests by the U.S. Forest Service. Canvassing by the federal agency identified several heavy metal hot spots in Portland. One was near Uroboros Glass in North Portland. Bullseye and Uroboros used cadmium and chromium to make colors in its glass, and Bullseye also used arsenic. They've abandoned that practice.
Arsenic and chromium quickly leave the body but cadmium can stay in the kidneys for years. Exposure to the metals can cause lung, kidney, liver and skin cancer. The metals also damage the kidneys and affect the IQ of children.
State health officials will offer free urine testing to residents. They said those within a half-mile radius of the glass factories were most at risk. Oregon health officials haven't quantified the risk faced by longtime residents. Both factories have been in Portland for about four decades.
William Lambert, a toxicologist with Oregon Health & Science University, said the threat is likely low. But breathing heavy metal particles would add the risk of cancer that everyone faces as they age, health officials said.
State health authorities will investigate anyone who tests positive for cadmium. State environmental officials are conducting soil testing near the two glass factories. But it's not sampling near other hot spots in Portland. It's not clear why.
-- Lynne Terry