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Tanapag’s land crabs to be re-tested
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Posted on Feb 18 2005
By MARCONI CALINDAS
REPORTER
Land crabs in Tanapag will again be tested to verify its safety for human consumption. This time, the crabs would also be tested for the presence of pesticides after the last sampling in 2000 showed traces of DDT.
The Department of Environmental Quality will conduct the tests in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency starting Feb. 21, according to public information officer Farrah Younis.
EPA released a fact sheet this week informing residents of Tanapag that land crabs will be re-sampled in the community to find out if they are safe to eat following its ban in 2001.
The ban was implemented by the Department of Public Health due to the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls in the soil of Tanapag.
The soil has been cleaned up, removing the PCB content in the area. EPA believes enough time has already passed to repeat the testing. The agency said the sampling will be similar to the last procedure they undertook in December 2000, and they will gather samples from the same areas in Tanapag.
The agencies hope that the PCB level has been reduced, if not completely removed, in the soil so that EPA could make a recommendation to DPH to lift the advisory they released in 2001.
A total of 92 land crabs were collected from five sampling areas in December 2000 and 10 were taken from Smiling Cove for background data and 19 to 21 from Achugao Stream, Cemetery 2, and two other homestead locations.
This year’s sampling will have the same procedures and the land crabs will also be analyzed for the pesticide DDT and related compounds due to previous reports that the area could also be contaminated with the said compounds.
Metal analyses will not be conducted this time since the last tests showed no reason to be concerned.
“If organochloride pesticides are found to have above the health-protective levels, this data will be considered in any health recommendation made to the CNMI by EPA,” according to a media release from EPA.
The results of this year’s test will be announced to the community at a later date when all data is complete and verified and analyzed.
