![]() ![]() The effects of lead, the more prevalent of the two contaminants in Bliss Corner, can harm people’s brains and neural systems if breathed or ingested in high enough doses.ĭumville said there are no documented cases yet of people suffering health problems from direct exposures to the pollution the EPA is remediating in Bliss Corner. Long-term exposure to PCBs, a man-made chemical the EPA banned the production of in 1979, may cause cancer and impede the development of neural and reproductive systems. Kelsey Dumville, a community liaison for the EPA, said the people most vulnerable to exposure are young children who grew up playing in contaminated soil, or adults who have eaten produce grown in the neighborhood on a regular basis over several decades. Bliss Corner straddles the boundary between New Bedford, a historic industrial city, and Dartmouth, the city’s largest suburb.Īverage lead concentrations in the soil of at least 20 different residential properties scattered throughout the neighborhood exceed federal safety standards, and a soil core recently taken from the grounds of a Bliss Corner preschool contained a concentration of PCBs 400 times higher than the state’s safety standard for residential areas. Environmental Protection Agency began removing soil with high concentrations of lead and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, from the five most contaminated homes in the neighborhood. (Ben Berke/The Public's Radio)īliss Corner looks like a typical postwar suburb, but beneath the neighborhood’s ranch houses and manicured lawns is a pollution problem that went undetected for more than half a century. ![]() EPA crews begin work in the backyard of a single-family home in Dartmouth on Monday. ![]()
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