The Colorado Division of
Wildlife has suspended chronic wasting disease testing at a
Fort Collins facility after a chemical turned up in the
facility's septic system at nearly 19 times the federal
standard.
The DOW discovered a
chemical called di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, or DEHP, in its
septic system during routine testing in February, division
spokesman Tim Holeman said Friday.
The testing was part of the
division's application for an underground injection control
permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The septic system drains
into a leach field, but groundwater isn't thought to be at
risk because the chemical attaches to soil and can be broken
down by microbes in the ground.
DEHP is used to soften
plastics. People typically are exposed to a small amount of
the chemical daily, but higher levels have been shown to
cause liver, kidney and reproductive problems in animals,
according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry.
Testing found DEHP at 115
micrograms per liter and 108 mg/L in a septic tank at the
division's Wildlife Health Laboratory, 4330 W. LaPorte Ave.
Follow-up testing April 7 found DEHP in the septic tank at
14 mg/L. The DOW is waiting on tests done last week.
Chronic wasting disease
sampling has been halted at the facility while the DOW and
EPA learn what caused the chemical's high level.
The division suspects a
disinfectant used in the laboratory reacted with spraying
equipment, paint on the floor or something else to produce
DEHP.
The finding was a surprise,
according to the DOW, because the disinfection process has
been approved by the EPA and is used by other laboratories
doing similar work.
"We hope to get to the
bottom of it pretty soon," said Tim Holeman, a DOW
spokesman.
The DOW applied for the
underground injection permit in 2001. The EPA allowed the
DOW to use the septic system without a permit for about four
years on the condition the state agency minimized the
discharge of active prions.
Prions are the folded
proteins that cause transmissible spongiform
encephalo-pathies, including chronic wasting disease and
bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.
Animal blood and
disinfectants, along with human waste from a division office
at the site, are discharged into the septic system.
The DOW is installing
lysimeters around the leach field to collect fluids passing
through the soil, which will allow the division to measure
DEHP levels in the leach field's nearby groundwater.
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