Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Guam awaits Agent Orange soil testing results


Guam awaits the results of a laboratory analysis done on soil samples collected in April within Andersen Air Force Base, to see whether they have traces of Agent Orange, a hazardous defoliant.

Members of the group who call themselves the "Agent Orange Survivors of Guam" are also awaiting the results, although they had said the soil sampling is a farce because the Department of Defense was directly involved with the sampling and testing.
Nic Rupley Lee, public information officer for the Guam Environmental Protection Agency, said as of Monday, the test result validation was still in process.
Two labs performed analysis on samples
There are two laboratories that performed analysis on the soil samples and are validating the test results:
o   A laboratory tapped by AECOM, a private contractor selected by Naval Facilities Engineering      Command Marianas to assist in developing the work plan and defining the quality assurance procedures, then later performed the soil sampling.
o   A laboratory chosen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Lee acknowledged a previous Guam EPA statement that sample analysis and data validation was expected to be complete in approximately 60 to 90 days from the date soil samples were collected, from April 23 to 26. The 60-day period falls this week.

No comments:

Post a Comment