HEALTH CONSULTATION
SPARTAN CHEMICAL COMPANY
WYOMING, KENT COUNTY, MICHIGAN
The sampling results discussed in this consultation were taken from the available investigations of the property, and are not adjusted for limitations or bias in the sampling programs. The Tables presented in this consultation include maximum and median concentrations in the samples collected. Health discussions are based on the maximum concentrations reported and long-term, frequent exposure scenarios, reasonably conservative assumptions.
In June 1993, the MDNR collected surface soil samples from 5 locations on an abandoned railroad right-of-way adjacent to the east side of the Spartan Chemical site and from 4 locations on the property of a Junior High School adjacent to the east side of the right-of-way. The concentrations of chemicals found are summarized in Table 1 (7). One sample from the right-of-way and two from the school, near the unfenced boundary with the right-of-way, contained arsenic concentrations above the MDEQ Generic Clean-Up Criteria for Residential Use, and the one from the right-of-way also exceeded the MDEQ Generic Clean-Up Criteria for Industrial or Commercial Use (8, 9). The manganese concentration in one sample from the school yard, near the boundary with the right-of-way, exceeded the MDEQ Residential Criteria and the MDEQ Soil Particulate Inhalation Criteria (SIC) for Industrial/Commercial Use (9, 10).
Table 1. Concentrations of contaminants of concern in surface soil samples from the school yard adjacent to the Spartan Chemical site, June 1993.
Only the maximum arsenic concentration exceeded the range of concentrations found in background soils in Michigan (11). A child playing on the right-of-way might incidentally ingest enough arsenic from the soil to exceed the U.S. EPA Reference Dose (RfD) or the ATSDR Minimum Risk Level (MRL)3. A child subject to pica behavior4 playing in the right-of-way might ingest enough arsenic from the soil to exceed the doses at which various health effects were observed in humans who drank water containing elevated concentrations of arsenic for two weeks or longer (12). Children of the ages subject to pica behavior are not likely to be in the right-of-way without supervision.
The manganese concentrations were within normal background ranges (11). No one is likely to ingest enough manganese from the soil in the school yard to exceed the RfD. In the scenario used by the MDEQ to derive the SICs, the air concentration of manganese might slightly exceed the U.S. EPA Reference Concentration (RfC) and the MRL for chronic inhalation exposure. However, the concentration would not be likely to equal that at which adverse health effects have been observed in health studies of workers in the manganese industry (13).
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