EPA: Tanapag land crabs are now safe to eat

More than four years after the imposition of a ban on eating Tanapag land crabs, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said those crabs are now safe to eat and are free from polychlorinated biphenyl contamination.

The EPA yesterday disclosed recent sampling results that showed that about 70-percent of all land crabs tested in and around the Tanapag Village in the CNMI had no presence of PCBs and the levels of PCBs and pesticides found in the remaining land crabs were at levels that would not harm human health.

“The latest round of sampling conducted in February shows a dramatic decrease in PCB levels of the Tanapag land crabs so that they are now safe to eat,” said EPA’s Dean Higuchi in a media statement.

“The exception is in the area called Homestead 2 near the Beach Park, where the PCB concentration in land crabs has declined, but some low level PCB contamination remains in the crabs from past releases in this area,” Higuchi added.

The EPA recommended residents that, if they eat crabs from Homestead 2, they should consume them at less than 12 meals per month.

It said no consumption limit would be necessary if the land crabs come from a variety of location in Tanapag, including Homestead 2, recommending the Department of Public Health to revise its public advisory on Tanapag land crabs accordingly.

The CNMI government imposed a ban on eating Tanapag land crabs beginning July 2001 due to PCB contamination on the area’s soil.

Following the ban, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers treated approximately 40,000 tons of contaminated soil at an estimated cost of $20 million.

But the Tanapag Action Group, an assembly of Tanapag residents who clamored for the soil treatment, pressed the EPA in 2003 to conduct a new survey of the village’s land crabs to determine whether they remain contaminated by PCBs.

The Army Corps had classified Tanapag as a formerly used defense site. Electrical, heat transfer and hydraulic equipment used in industrial and commercial applications contain PCBs, which have been shown to cause cancer and other health effects in humans and animals, including effects on the immune, reproductive, nervous, and endocrine systems.

The EPA said copies of all sampling results are available for public review at the Division of Environmental Quality.

“The data demonstrates that the soil cleanup was effective in removing PCB contamination from the village and its native food source,” said Michelle Rogow, on-scene coordinator for the EPA Pacific Southwest Region’s Emergency Response Section.

“These sampling results allow the residents of Saipan to go back to the lifestyle they have enjoyed with no fear of PCB contamination,” Rogow said.