Housing development gone wrong: Residents fear exposure to toxic solvents

Residents say they
experience health problems
due to chemical exposure.

A Scottish housing estate built on the site of a former munitions factory might harbor more than what residents have bargained for.

The residents claim that there are toxins 27 times beyond the international safety levels that have been found in tests in their homes.

Many of the residents have started suffering from health problems such as stomach problems, nausea and muscular pain, which only started after they moved there, they said.

The factory that used to operate on the site handled toxic metals, hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials in the 1940s.

Residents exposed to TCE and PCE, other chemicals

The residents claim that indoor testing of 25 homes had confirmed the presence of exceptionally high levels of the toxic solvents, including trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), among others.

Monridge Environmental LLC, the company brought in to carry out the tests, was said to believe the levels of these pollutants could not be attributed to the use of household products, a concern that was voiced by other authorities.

Des Collins, senior partner at Collins Solicitors, said: "TCE is a well-known and accepted carcinogen. The levels in four houses are hugely excessive and the findings of this latest report have potentially far-reaching and damaging consequences. Further, the evidence of other solvents being detected, very often at dangerous levels, gives real cause for concern.”

The council has been accused of ignoring 1995 recommendations for a remediation program to clean contaminated waste from the site before giving the green light to build more than 100 houses on it.

Source: Scotsman.com

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Let's recap: A factory that handled dangerous chemicals, no remediation program, a housing estate built on the site and budding health problems in residents – sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

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