Green Party Press Release..

Marfell Park remains open despite dangers
Monday, 29 June 2009, 9:37 am
Press Release: Green Party

Marfell Park remains open despite dangers

27 June 2009

Marfell Park remains open despite dangers

New Plymouth's Marfell Park remains open to the public and without warning signs despite test results made public this week indicating the likelihood of widespread toxic contamination.

"Protecting our children from any further risk of exposure to the toxic chemicals in Marfell Park should be the top priority," said Green Party Toxics Spokesperson Catherine Delahunty.

"Amazingly, not only is the Park still open to the public, but there are not even signs warning of the risks.

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"The Park must be closed to the public and fenced off immediately - a wait-and-see approach is just too dangerous."

Council testing of soil from Marfell Park detected a range of chemicals, not just the three chemicals initially identified and associated with the recovered drums.

"The evidence points to more widespread contamination than initially reported," said Ms Delahunty.

"Despite overwhelming public concern and many meetings of Councils and the District Health Board, the Park remains open to unsuspecting families," said Ms Delahunty.

The only fence is one erected to prevent children playing on the stock-pile of clean soil that will be used to recover the playground.

"Even the most simple and common-sense protection measure of putting up warning signs has not occurred.

"I urge the Council to adopt a safety-first approach until further testing is done to identify the scale of the contamination. It's much better to be safe than sorry."

While the additional chemicals identified are within acceptable levels in soil, they are unlikely to be associated with the recovered drums, pointing to other sources of contamination from the dump under the Park, Ms Delahunty said.

Two weeks ago, the Taranaki Regional Council notified positive tests for three chemicals containing dioxin. The tests showed levels that are some of the highest ever found.

The soil analysis, released to the public this week, showed levels of chlordane, dieldrin, pentachlorophenol, fenchlorophos and indicators of DDT.

"Most of these chemicals are now banned due to their extreme toxicity, and some are members of the notorious "dirty dozen" club of lethal chemicals," Ms Delahunty said.