For immediate release:
Red Jacket Salvage Yard Site - Health Consultation Fact Sheet
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reviewed samples
taken at the Red Jacket Salvage Yard (formerly Lacy’s Salvage Yard) in Red
Jacket, Mingo County and found no apparent public health hazard.
People, including children, would not be likely to get enough of the
chemicals found in the ash piles at this site (metals called lead, cadmium,
and chromium) to cause harmful health effects.
DHHR reached this conclusion by looking at the Environmental Protection
Agency sample data and assuming that a child would be in contact with the
ash for 180 days a year, and eat small amounts of the ash during normal
hand-to-mouth activities. Estimating the amount of chemicals that this
activity would add to a child’s body, DHHR determined the levels are lower
than those found for harmful health effects.
DHHR cannot say that no harmful health effects would occur if a child were
exposed to lead in the ash in the salvage yard. Some scientists believe that
any amount of lead in children’s bodies can cause some adverse health
effects. At these low levels, the effects are difficult to determine. Low
levels of lead in children’s bodies can affect their mental and physical
development. Because of these adults should keep children away from lead.
The EPA has removed the ash piles from the Red Jacket Salvage Yard.
For more information about this report write or call the ATSDR Cooperative
Partners Program at: ATSDR Cooperative Partners Program, Radiation, Toxics
and Indoor Air Division, Office of Environmental Health Services, Capitol
and Washington Streets, 1 Davis Square, Suite 200, Charleston, West Virginia
25301-1798.
