[CPEO-BIF] "Metal contamination found in Vancouver [British Columbia] community garden, brownfield sites"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Metal contamination found in Vancouver community garden, brownfield sites

 
Soil research suggests study required before growing food on land near busy transportation corridors

 
By Randy Shore
Vancouver Sun (BC)
December 2, 2014

An eight-month study of Vancouver garden and agricultural soils has found levels of lead and other metals above the most stringent Canadian standards for human health.

Samples taken from the 16 Oaks community garden averaged 219 parts per million of lead, which exceeds the standard of 70 to 140 ppm for agricultural, residential and park land set by the Canadian Council of Environment Ministers.

Levels of lead - a potent neurotoxin - are five times higher than those measured at UBC Farm, a site remote from urban activity just a few kilometres away.

Samples of soil, dust and Kentucky bluegrass were collected from UBC Farm, the community garden (which was once a parking lot and restaurant), and a former scrap yard at East Hastings and Glen  Drive and analyzed for five metals of interest: zinc, lead, manganese, nickel and copper.
 
…

For the entire article, see
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Metal+contamination+found+Vancouver+community+garden/10431761/story.html

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
LSiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org




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