美國自然資源保衛委員會27日公佈一項最新報告，指出在卡崔娜颶風過後，紐奧良有6所學校操場受到砷污染，美國聯邦法和州立法令皆有規定清理標準，但檢測出的含量至少高出清理標準2倍，而聯邦或州立環保單位也都沒有採取任何行動進行清理。
自然資源保衛委員會研究人員在今年3月針對紐奧良116所住宅、小學和操場進行抽樣檢測。
檢測結果發現，19所學校操場中，有6所的土壤砷含量超出路易斯安那州環境品質部和美國環保署共同制訂的清理標準，另外2處運動場和4處住宅區的情況也相同。
在這些沈積物中所發現的砷成分可能有許多來源，包括含有砷成分的殺蟲劑排入龐恰特雷恩湖底、
垃圾焚化、工業區排放污水，或是塗有鉻銅砷酸鹽的廢棄物。
砷對於人體有害，已知會導致癌症、畸形兒、心血管疾病和神經失調。
Six New Orleans schoolyards tested after Hurricane Katrina were found to be contaminated with arsenic in amounts at least double the levels requiring cleanup under both state and federal law, finds a report released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council, NRDC, but state and federal environmental agencies have done nothing to clean them up.
In March, NRDC researchers sampled 116 residential, elementary school, and playground sites in New Orleans.
Results showed that six of the 19 schoolyards tested contained soil that exceeded cleanup guidelines for arsenic established by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, LDEQ, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. Two playgrounds and four residential areas also.
The arsenic found in this sediment could have originated from multiple sources, including the originated of arsenic-based pesticides displaced from the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain, trash incineration, leakage from industrial sites, or lumber treated with chromium-copper arsenate.
Arsenic is toxic to humans, and is known to cause cancer, birth defects, cardiovascular disease and neurological disorders.
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