3M water contamination grows
Groundwater contamination from chemicals once manufactured by 3M has expanded. For 50 years the chemicals were dumped at sites in Oakdale, Woodbury and Lake Elmo, and on company property in Cottage Grove, until 1974. Now, these perfluorochemicals, perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) in particular, are contaminating groundwater throughout these and six other communities.
"The state health and environmental officials, as well as 3M, are trying to understand how the pollution moves underground and where else it might show up," The Star Tribune reported Saturday.
"Health officials said the PFBA in the new plume is less of a concern than other chemicals from the same family because it does not accumulate in the body," The Pioneer Press also reported on Saturday.
Even though the contamination may not directly affect humans, people are still concerned and the problem is still under investigation.
The Star Tribune and Pioneer Press both address the same issues. The Star Tribune emphasizes the harm the chemicals have caused, while the Pioneer Press claims that consumers are less and less concerned. Both include short leads that lack some important information. More details are given in the second paragraph of each article.
Comments
I grew up in Cottage Grove, as did my mother's cousin who lived in the Pine Coulee area between Cottage Grove and Hastings, right down the road from the Chemolite site. She died in 2000 from Liver Cancer. Her husband contracted a rare blood disease and to this day is un-diagnosable. Her daughter now has Graves Disease a Thyroid disease. And that's not all, her next door neighbor died of ovarian cancer a few years before she did, they were both in their early 50's. I believe it's all too much of a coincidence. The tests they did on mice for only 20 DAYS turned up illnesses to the liver and thyroid. What about my family who has been drinking the water for 20 to 30 years?
Posted by: Tom | February 14, 2007 07:41 AM