SoBoBlog.com: news, rumors and oddments by and of the citizens of South Baltimore

by Colleen Wolfe
soboblog@baltimoreguide.com

City Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein held another public meeting concerning the arsenic contamination at Swann Park last Sunday and seems to be moving fast to get some answers about the health risks associated with using the park. Scientists from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ATSDR), which operates under the Center for Disease Control, arrived in Baltimore last week and have already started their preliminary investigation into the park. But more definitive answers are still a few weeks away.

The city closed Swann Park April 19 after tests revealed very high levels of arsenic in the soil. The waterfront park, which is used by the track and field, baseball and football teams of Digital Harbor High School and other city sports leagues, is next to the former Allied Chemical pesticide factory. Arsenic was a common component in the pesticides  manufactured at the Race Street plant until it closed in 1976.
Scientists from ATSDR were on hand at the meeting to speak to residents about the situation but few definitive answers were given about what can be done right now to alleviate fears. Residents and athletes at the meeting asked about whether they should be tested now for exposure to arsenic. But not many were satisfied with the answer.

This is what the ATSDR said about arsenic testing in a 2005 toxicological profile for arsenic and also explained to those at the meeting:
“Several sensitive and specific tests can measure arsenic in your blood, urine, hair, or fingernails, and these tests are often helpful in determining if you have been exposed to above-average levels of arsenic in the past. These tests are not usually performed in a doctor’s office. They require sending the sample to a testing laboratory.
Measurement of arsenic in your urine is the most reliable means of detecting arsenic exposures that you experienced within the last several days. Most tests measure the total amount of arsenic present in your urine. This can sometimes be misleading, because the nonharmful forms of arsenic in fish and shellfish can give a high reading even if you have not been exposed to a toxic form of arsenic. For this reason, laboratories sometimes use a more complicated test to separate “fish arsenic” from other forms. Because most arsenic leaves your body within a few days, analysis of your urine cannot detect if you were exposed to arsenic in the past. Tests of your hair or fingernails can tell if you were exposed to high levels over the past 6-12 months, but these tests are not very useful in detecting low-level exposures. If high levels of arsenic are detected, this shows that you have been exposed, but unless more is known about when you were exposed and for how long, it is usually not possible to predict whether you will have any harmful health effects.”

But the Health Department has asked ATSDR to make recommendations about whether hair and fingernail testing of arsenic would be worthwhile.

The City Health Department has created a website specifically for the Swann Park situation. Go to http://swannpark.blogspot.com/ to read all of the letters and documents relating to the contamination at Swann Park. If you’d like to get on the Health Department’s email alert list for Swann Park go to www.baltimorehealth.org/swannpark.html.

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has likewise created a website where it has posted letters, test results and a timeline of all of the events from the original testing done in 1976 leading up to the current situation. You can find all of that at http://www.mde.state.md.us/CitizensInfoCenter/Health/swannpark.asp.
Lets hope for the sake of the residents, athletes and maintenance workers who have used that park over the years that some real answers are gleaned from this latest round of research and that no one drops the ball again.

If one good thing comes out of this fiasco it might be the renovation of Swann Park. Connie Brown, director of Recreation and Parks, was at this latest meeting and told the crowd that the department had been considering updating the park with new amenities like an electronic score board. Once the park has been cleaned up and is back in use, Rec and Parks would like to see the renovations get started. But a clean up of the park could be months away. Until then, Digital Harbor High School’s baseball and football teams will have to tough it out between Latrobe and Carroll parks.

There is one thing I have never been called and that is a pack rat. If I can junk it, donate it or sell it then one way or another I get the clutter out of my house. So lucky for me I live in Locust Point. And if you live here too then you’ll want to know about the Locust Point yard sale. It’s a great opportunity to get rid of all the junk you have been digging up while spring cleaning and turn it into someone else’s treasure. And you might as well make a little money at the same time. This is the first year the Locust Point Civic Association is trying its hand at a yard sale fundraiser and if the response is favorable it would like to make it an annual event. The sale will be on Saturday, June 9 (rain date is June 16) from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Latrobe Park. Locust Point residents can rent a space for $20. If you’re thinking about participating here’s a bit more of an enticement. There is a reenactment event at Fort McHenry that weekend that should add some traffic along Fort Avenue, right past the park. Volunteers are also needed to donate baked goods for the LPCA table. If you’re interested call Sarah Clarkson at 410-783-0013 or email her at sarahclarkson33@hotmail.com.

Just because we live in the city doesn’t mean we can’t have beautiful gardens, even if those gardens don’t take up any more space than a few window boxes and a couple of outdoor planters. So for the seventh consecutive year the Federal Hill South Garden Club wants to recognize those Federal Hill neighbors with creative minds and green thumbs with its window box contest. First place winner will receive $100 and their picture in the Garden Club calendar. Judging will be June 2 so there is plenty of time to get your planting underway. To enter the contest send an email with your name, address and phone number to lsteensen@hotmail.com by June 1. Be sure to write “window box contest” in the subject line.

And if after you put in all that work you think you’ve got a winner then no doubt you’ll want to show off your creation. Consider having your masterpiece photographed for the Garden Club’s third annual calendar. Garden Club members will be taking pictures of neighborhood gardens until late August. Front yards, backyards, decks and individual planters will be considered. No garden is too large or small. If you’d like the Garden Club to consider your garden for entry in the calendar e-mail Laura Steensen at lsteensen@hotmail.com. And write “garden club” in the subject line.

I have some good news and some bad news concerning the new city farm going in Riverside Park. First the bad news, because the space for the new farm is so small all available 27 plots have already been spoken for. And the wait list is already 47 people long. Now the good news, the overwhelming response from the residents of South Baltimore has prompted the City Farms department to look into another possible farm in South Baltimore and Latrobe Park is a possibility. In the meantime, if you’re itching to get started and can’t wait to climb to the top of the Riverside farm wait list there are a few plots available at the Fort Holabird city farm in Dundalk. If you’re interested call Coleen McCarty, City Farms program coordinator, at 410-396-7839.