Contamination
worries stateState officials consider testing
kids for lead poisoning near
the old Pioneer Mill site
LAHAINA >> State health officials are considering testing for lead contamination in children ages 6 months to 5 years old who live near the former Pioneer Mill Co.
If the lead testing is approved, the state could recommend that physicians administer blood tests to children as part of their annual physical exams, said Dr. Lorrin Pang, the state health administrator on Maui.
Pang said state health officials also will be talking with each other about conducting a survey to determine the number of children with respiratory problems who live around the old Pioneer Mill on Lahainaluna Road in Lahaina.
Pang's comments yesterday followed a meeting Tuesday night at the Lahaina Civic Center, where area residents spoke about the dust and health problems arising from the mill's shutdown in 1999.
Federal and state officials organized the meeting after discovering a few areas had high levels of lead and arsenic.
The testing, which took place in February, is a part of a joint effort by state health officials and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to determine if chemical contamination is a problem at former sugar mills in Hawaii.
Contaminated soil samples were found in three areas, including one south of Lahainaluna Road about 300 feet from homes near the old carpenter's building. The lead level there was measured at 943 parts per million, more than twice the acceptable level of 400 parts per million. Lead in soil samples taken from a vehicle storage area on the northern side of the mill measured 1,420 ppm.
The arsenic level of a sampling area, north of the mill and about 200 feet mauka of businesses, measure about 104 parts per million, almost five times the acceptable level of 22 parts per million.
Pang said there does not appear to be widespread lead and arsenic contamination at the Pioneer industrial site, because most of the 40-50 samples showed no problem.
But federal and state officials said more testing would be conducted to determine the extent and concentration of the lead and arsenic contamination.
In the meantime, state and federal officials plan to meet with Pioneer Mill officials to propose covering the contaminated areas with plastic and to discuss other possible action. That may include more testing in some areas suggested by residents, who say dirt from the mill site was moved south of Lahainaluna Road.
Residents also spoke with state and federal officials about the location of sites where herbicides were mixed before being applied to sugar cane.
Federal official Dana Barton said an aerial analysis also will be done by federal officials to see if there might be other areas that require testing.
Residents who know of potential contamination sites are asked to contact Barton or Vicki Rosen at 800-231-3075.