EBS STAFF
ANACONDA – According
to the “Associated Press,” the Environmental Protection Agency was forced
to intervene on the sale of “Bag O’ Slag,” sandwich bags filled with Anaconda
mining and smelting waste, after discovering traces of arsenic, a known
carcinogen, and lead, known to cause neurological damage in people, especially
children and developing brains.
EPA
officials in Anaconda working to oversee the Superfund site, created through
decades of smelting copper, incidentally came across the sale at the Anaconda
Chamber of Commerce. According to the chamber’s executive director, Mary
Johnston, the EPA asked the chamber to stop selling the $2 novelties in
resealable bags and gave them recommendations for sealed containers.
The chamber told EBS in an email that the snack-sized
bags contained approximately one third of a cup of slag. “Most all reports from
the EPA do state that the contents of the slag are inert unless heated to a
high temperature,” they said, adding that a warning label was included on the
backs of the bags.
