Toxic

If Baltimore must have casino gambling, they should put it on the toxic Allied Signal site.New Hampshire folks are entitled to privacy except in an election year, which this is not. Outsiders should leave the state now and return next year.Cheer up. Wagering increased dramatically at Pimlico this year.Leave it to Councilman O'Malley to seize a passing opportunity by the throat.Pub Date: 6/23/99

There's an algal bloom just downstream from Shelltown on the Pocomoke River. And there are plenty of menhaden, the fish Pfiesteria feast on. State biologists even found the deadly microorganism, albeit in a benign state, in water taken from the river late last month.These conditions resemble the summer of 1997, the year an outbreak of Pfiesteria piscicida killed fish and sickened people along three rivers on Maryland's lower Eastern Shore. But that doesn't necessarily mean Shore waters are in for another outbreak of lesioned fish circling crazily near the surface before they expire or of people suffering memory loss and disorientation.

THREE SUSPECTED cases of poisoning by the microorganism Pfiesteria piscicida on the Lower Shore are no cause for panic. Careful monitoring of the implicated Chesapeake waters and scrupulous medical examination of victims are needed to determine the facts.The symptoms reported by three persons from contact with a tributary of the Manokin River -- skin irritation and flu-like illness -- are similar to those of Pfiesteria poisoning. But these are broad-spectrum ailments that might have any number of causes.

Johns Hopkins Hospital's medical practices may be cutting edge, but its methods of handling garbage and toxic wastes put it near the back of the pack in efforts to prevent pollution, according to a Washington environmental research group.In a survey of 50 of the nation's top hospitals, the nonprofit Environmental Working Group found that some are trying to cut their share of air pollutants by burning less waste, while reducing the amount of harmful chemicals, like mercury, that they use.Medical waste incinerators are ranked by the Environmental Protection Agency as one of the nation's top sources of toxic air pollution.

PHILADELPHIA - Predatory algae blooms are a mysterious and growing global threat to fish and even humans, scientists at Woods Hole Institute said at a recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science."

A hazardous material spilled onto Route 27 in Mount Airy yesterday, closing the highway and ramps to Interstate 70, while crews from four counties battled intense heat and noxious fumes for nearly six hours.A gas station became the staging area about 8: 30 a.m. for more than 60 firefighters and 15 state police officers working to clean up phenol resin, a toxic byproduct of formaldehyde, a carcinogen.The chemical had leaked from a freight truck en route to Jessup from West Virginia. No one was injured, but several cases of heat exhaustion were reported.

An ambitious new series of University of Maryland studies is aimed at solving some of the many riddles posed by toxic Pfiesteria -- from the way it mysteriously "ambushes" fish to its effects on specific cells in the brain.Scientists in North Carolina and elsewhere are also studying the toxic microbe, and some of the new work being undertaken at the University of Maryland's School of Medicine and Center of Marine Science Biotechnology will overlap with those studies.But university officials said yesterday that the $6.3 million, five-year set of studies in Maryland, paid for by a federal grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Studies, will be the first time a team of scientists has been formed for a comprehensive look at Pfiesteria and its health effects.

WITH SUMMER fast approaching, Maryland is bracing for the return of a decidedly unwanted visitor -- the toxic microorganism Pfiesteria piscicida that whipped up panic in the Chesapeake last year, resulting in closing of three waterways for health concerns.It's unclear whether the normally benign creature will change into the toxic form that attacked fish and humans in the Lower Shore tributaries last summer. Or whether it will find the same brackish water conditions (and pollution) linked to its virulence.

Three Baltimore research centers have won a $6.3 million federal grant to study toxic Pfiesteria and its effects on human health.Researchers at the University of Maryland medical school, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute will share the five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health.The money will pay for four projects, including studies on Pfiesteria's toxins and their effect on the human brain. It also will fund a state-of-the-art laboratory where water and fish samples can be tested for the presence of the toxic microbe.

Maryland has been awarded $560,000 in federal money toward setting up scientific tripwires to detect possible outbreaks of Pfiesteria, a toxic microbe believed to have triggered fish kills in the waterways of several Atlantic states. The state has already allocated $1 million for testing.Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida were also given grants by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency to test rivers and streams for Pfiesteria piscicida.

Ventilation systems are being installed by the state in three homes in Baltimore's Westport neighborhood, according to state officials, after tests found toxic vapors seeping into the dwellings from long-abandoned industrial sites nearby that had been the focus of an emergency hazardous-waste cleanup decades ago. In addition, said James Carroll of the Maryland Department of the Environment, efforts are under way to treat potentially cancer-causing solvents...

WASHINGTON - Faced with new evidence that utilities across the country are dumping toxic sludge into waterways, the Environmental Protection Agency is moving to impose new restrictions on the level of contaminants power plants can discharge. Plants in Florida, Pennsylvania and several other states have flushed wastewater with levels of selenium and other toxins that far exceed the EPA's freshwater and saltwater standards aimed at protecting aquatic life, according to data the agency has collected over the past few years.

The fumes that waft from top-selling air fresheners and laundry products contain dozens of chemicals, including several classified as toxic or hazardous, says a University of Washington study published yesterday. None of the chemicals was listed on product labels, nor does the federal government require companies to disclose ingredients in fragrances, said study author Anne Steinemann. "I was surprised by both the number and the potential toxicity of the chemicals that were found," said Steinemann, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and public affairs.

April showers not only bring May flowers, but they also can reduce the outbreak of gypsy moths. The winged invaders are on the upswing, and unless there's a wet spring to help spread a naturally occurring virus that attacks the moths at the caterpillar stage, state officials expect to spray about four times as much land with pesticide than they did just two years ago. Gov. Martin O'Malley has asked the legislature to approve $3.5 million so the Maryland...

An environmental group said yesterday that it had found fly ash on houses and a playground near a coal-waste dump in Anne Arundel County, and it suggested that this poses a threat to public health. "The state should close this facility permanently, require more air monitoring and put more requirements into state regulations to limit air pollution from future dumps," said Brad Heavner, executive director of Environment Maryland, a nonprofit group. Officials with the Maryland Department of the Environment said their air testing around the Gambrills dump had found trace levels that don't pose a threat.

Ship may pose toxic threat A former World War II hospital ship that is moored in Baltimore will soon be towed to Greece, under a plan that's raising legal questions and pollution concerns. A Seattle environmental group claims the Sanctuary contains toxic polychlorinated biphenyls and that towing it abroad would violate federal rules barring the export of PCBs. Sparrows Point deal doubted The local that represents workers at Sparrows Point is questioning the sale of the plant to an investment group led by Chicago-based Esmark Inc. John Cirri, president of United Steelworkers Local 9477, sent a letter to the international union body asking it to reconsider its support of the sale to E2 Acquisition Corp.

The Sanctuary, a retired World War II-era vessel languishing in Baltimore waters for years, contains high levels of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, according to a report obtained yesterday by The Sun. The survey, performed in July by a company that once considered buying the former Navy hospital ship, confirms the suspicions of environmentalists. It contradicts assertions by the new owner, Potomac Navigation Inc., that the vessel contains few PCBs. The Delaware-registered company plans to take the vessel to Greece in the next few weeks, but concerns raised by a Seattle environmental group, the Basel Action Network, could delay the process.

The Bush administration has come up with the wrong formula for protecting the country's 15,000 chemical plants from terrorist attacks. Terrorists could kill thousands of people by targeting a plant with toxic chemicals near a populated area. Under proposed rules from the administration, plants that use, store and produce dangerous chemicals would draw up their own security plans to submit for approval to the Department of Homeland Security. Plants that failed to carry out this requirement or take other steps mandated by the department could be fined or shut down.

Nearly 60 percent of fish taken from Maryland waters show concentrations of toxic mercury at levels unsafe for infants and children, an environmental advocacy group said in a report released yesterday. At a news conference at Middle Branch Park, with Baltimore's industrial waterfront and a clutch of fishermen in the background, the Maryland Public Interest Research Group issued what it called the most detailed report to date on mercury levels in fish and shellfish caught in Maryland. The group's report, based on data collected by state agencies, said 59 percent of samples had mercury levels higher than the level at which the Environmental Protection Agency recommends that people begin limiting their consumption.

Most of the vacant land surrounding the missile and aircraft parts assembly plants at Lockheed Martin Corp.'s sprawling Middle River complex will need to be cleaned of toxic contamination before the property can be redeveloped, company officials said this week. After months of environmental testing, company officials say they believe 15,000 cubic yards of soil need to be hauled away because "hot spots" on the site are tainted with petroleum compounds, toxic metals and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, a hazardous chemical once used as an insulator in power equipment.