BY MICHEAL HAYNE

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

A relatively safe and quite neighborhood of Garfield, N.J. may be safe from house burglaries, unless of course the burglars happen to be hexavalent chromium. It seems hexavalent chromium, an industrial metal deemed by the CDC as a "carcinogen," has infiltrated neighborhoods of the suburban town, putting 3,600 residents in harm’s way.

The Environmental Protection Agency is prepared to start drilling on the contaminated site in order to determine roughly how much chromium is hidden beneath and remove tainted soil. Also, the agency will be testing the greater area to determine how it will be cleaned up.

In the mean time, a handful of scientists from New York University are working to ascertain how much chromium residents may have been exposed to. And this is where it gets weird.

They will be collecting toenail clippings from the residents of Garfield, and the nails will then be tested for traces of chromium. Since apparently toenails grow slowly, the researchers will be able to determine how much chromium has accumulated in the body over the past 18 months or so, according to Judith Zelikoff, a professor of environmental medicine at New York University.

"Our major goal is to try to relieve their fears," Zelikoff said. "With the economy, they can't sell their homes. They don't know if they got exposed." (Huffington post)

Well N.J. is facing high unemployment, so maybe the state can put out an ad for toenail clipper. One can imagine that whoever responds will most likely be the person who gets the job.

Although seemingly strange at first blush, the toenail practice is actually quite common.

In order to be tested, subjects must be between 18 and 65, have lived in Garfield for at least two years, not take chromium supplements, and not smoke.

Complicating matters, however, is the fact that a majority of the residents are immigrants and newcomers, according to Zelikoff. So city officials will be disseminating information about the cleanup to local churches, and in four languages: English, Spanish, Polish and Macedonian, said city manager Tom Duch.

Duch claims an initial health consultation indicates that there's no higher incidence of cancer in the neighborhood than anywhere else in the city, but he thinks the issue needs additional scientific testing.

"I have some concerns," Duch said. "There are residents who have come to meetings and said, `This one died, that one died,' and I think it warrants further investigation." (Huffington Post)

With roughly 20,000 Superfund Sites, N.J. leads the country in contamination.

So what, you want to fight about it?  The state has already spent $350 million to clean them up, but an additional $375 million will be needed to complete the clean-up efforts. Of course the cancellation of MTV's Jersey Shore certainly lessened the amount of contamination in the state.