‘Town Crier’ – Briefs from the Region (1) – 11/19/19

Anaconda ‘souvenirs’ contain arsenic, EPA intervenes

According to The Associated Press, the Environmental Protection Agency was forced to intervene on the sale of “Bag O’ Slag,” sandwich bags filled with Anaconda mining and smelting waste after discovering traces of arsenic, a known carcinogen, and lead, known to cause neurological damage in people, especially children and developing brains. EPA employees in Anaconda working to oversee the Superfund site, created through decades of toxic smelting and mining, incidentally came across the sale at the Anaconda Chamber of Commerce, immediately shutting down the sale of the $2 novelties. The EPA’s Office of the Inspector General has instructed regional administrator Gregory Sopkin that he has 15 days to identify and distribute a fact sheet detailing the hazards of the bags and ways to properly dispose them to any individual collector or business selling them.