Chromium Six--Again

Posted by Erin Brockovich in her Blog
16 June 2008

Chromium Six has reared its ugly head again. Now it has been found in Ireland, specifically at a former steel plant in Cork, Ireland. The plant has been closed since 2001 after twenty years in operation stockpiling masses of toxins. In 2003, the Irish Department of Environment took over responsibility for the property. Since then, they have been inventorying the site, which is now a toxic chemical dump. Not the healthiest job to do.

Here is something I have heard before, though it was someone other than the Minister for Environment John Gormley saying it:

"People will not be exposed to any health risk because of hazardous waste at Haulbowline in Cork." He says so because someone in his office says so, according to BBC news.

The statement was in reply to one of the people subcontracted to work on the site who found toxic levels of Chromium Six.

If it isn't dangerous, why did they stop work? Why close the door if you're denying the horses are out? But apparently someone has called a stop-work order. Lucky for those subcontractors and locals whose job it is to pick thru the half a million tons of hazardous materials buried at the dump site. I hope someone is heavily insured. Not that insurance, or lawsuits, or settlements help when people are doomed to die of cancer because their very environment is killing them.