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Chemical Found Again In Home Near Raytheon

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By MARK DOUGLAS

mdouglas@WFLA.com

Published: November 12, 2008

For the second time since August, the Florida Department of Health has detected high levels of a cancer-causing chemical in a home near the Raytheon defense plant in St. Petersburg.

The agency is testing indoor air quality in homes near Raytheon to determine whether chemicals in an underground plume of toxic waste pose any danger to residents.

State records show a groundwater plume of industrial waste has been migrating under the neighborhood since 1999. It was discovered under the defense plant in the early 1990s before Raytheon owned the property.

After a first round of residential air quality tests in August, the health department concluded there was no connection between the cancer-causing chemical 1, 2-dichloroethane (DCA) in six groundwater test wells within 200 yards of the Brandywine Apartments and high levels of the chemical in two Brandywine units.

Levels of DCA in those apartments measured more than a thousand times greater than what the EPA says can cause cancer during a lifetime of exposure.

Eckerd College environmental studies Professor Kent Curtis reviewed the test data at the request of News Channel 8 and said, "There is reason to be concerned, though probably not alarmed."

Curtis said he thinks the Raytheon plume is behind the problem.

The health department retested Brandywine on Oct. 20 after acknowledging problems with the testing in August. Researchers sampled at least one wrong location, lost or mishandled a quarter of the air samples and mistakenly linked the presence of DCA in Oscar Silva's Brandywine apartment to smoking. No one in Silva's family smokes.

The health department later blamed the miscommunication on Silva. He speaks little English and the health department said he answered "yes" to all researchers' questions.

Silva said he is as confused about what might be causing the contamination in his apartment.

"Maybe it's the carpet," Silva said.

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