Is there a Need for Tougher Regulations of Heavy Metals?

California’s LA Testing provides sampling and testing solutions for projects involving heavy metals.

Los Alamitos, CA

For close to a century one of the world’s largest smokestacks released lead, arsenic and other heavy metals across Washington’s Puget Sound. The smokestack and copper smelter have since been demolished, but after the company that had owned the mine was bought by a foreign corporation there were concerns across the state that taxpayers would be left to pay the bill to clean up the environmental contamination.

The mining company was placed into bankruptcy in a move some skeptics viewed as a way to manipulate the justice system to prevent the parent company from its financial obligations to provide environmental cleanup funds. A U.S. District judge stepped in and in the end accepted a $2.2 billion plan from the new owners which satisfied most parties in the state.

Heavy metals that result from mining and smelting operations can include arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, lead, mercury and other metals. Exposure to many of these metals can lead to adverse health conditions ranging from skin and lung diseases, cancers to even death.

These metals can build up in biological systems on land and in the water and become significant health hazards to both people and animals. LA Testing, an affiliate of EMSL Analytical and a leading source of heavy metal testing services, provides testing solutions to help protect people and the environment from heavy metal exposure.

“Mining is a crucial component of the economy and our modern lives, but unfortunately in the past the safety and environmental regulations were not always as tough or heavily enforced as they are today,” reported Ben Sublasky, National Director of Client Services for LA Testing and EMSL Analytical. “To ensure public safety and to protect the environment it’s important that people recognize the need to test suspect materials for heavy metals to be sure that contaminated sites are identified and properly remediated.”

To learn more about heavy metals or other environmental testing services please visit www.LATesting.com, email info@LATesting.com or call (800) 755-1794.

About LA Testing and EMSL Analytical, Inc.
LA Testing and EMSL Analytical are providers of environmental testing services and products to professionals and the general public. The company has an extensive list of accreditations from leading organizations as well as state and federal regulating bodies.

Contact Information

Ben Sublasky

National Director of Clients Services/Operations Manager

EMSL Analytical, Inc.

Contact via E-mail