Problem:  Before modern pesticides were developed, arsenic was 
commonly used for pest control.  In Minnesota in the 1970's it 
became evident that the amount of buried or otherwise improperly 
disposed of arsenic in the state was a significant problem.  Since 
the problem was widely spread among a number of sites with 
relatively small quantities of poison, federal Superfund support 
was not generally available; since much of the arsenic had come 
from government pest-control programs, no private firms or 
individuals were likely to be found liable.  

Proposed solution:  In 1983 Minnesota developed its own Superfund 
law, primarily aimed at arsenic, which enabled the Minnesota 
Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to attend to toxic waste pollution 
problems in the state.  First, the MCPA developed a program to try 
to find as many of the arsenic disposal sites as possible by 
raising public awareness of the problem within the agricultural 
community.  Once sites were reported, the agency made visits, 
removing what was easily removable and determining the extent of 
the other contamination.  Poison bait was repackaged more safely, 
and contaminated sawdust (formerly used as bait) was removed from 
buildings where it had been used as insulation.  

Evaluation:  The program has helped raise awareness of the problem 
and has begun to eliminate the poison.  Much of the arsenic and 
contaminated bait has been collected.  The problem of eventual 
disposal, however, has yet to be resolved.  Also, there is still 
probably a good deal of poison that has yet to be found or 
reported.  The process so far, however, has managed to reduce the 
immediate problem for farmers and landowners, and has helped 
develop a model for dealing with other cases of widespread small-
scale toxic contamination.

Contact:  Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Citation:  "Rounding Up A Dangerous Chemical."  EPA Journal, v. 11 
(April 1985), p. 13.

Keywords:  environment toxic waste cleanup

Disclaimer: The file contained in the box above or displayed in a separate window from a link in the box above is NOT owned nor implied to be owned by BeYoND THe iLLuSioN. Most files at BeYoND THe iLLuSioN are originally from public Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) which were popular in the days before the Internet or from gopher, web, and FTP sites from the early days of the Internet which no longer exist today. Essentially, all files were acquired from the public domain in one for or another.

However, there have been occasions when copyright protected material has appeared on BeYoND THe iLLuSIoN without permission of the copyright holder. In these instances, we have and will continue to remove the copyright protected file as soon as it is brought to our attention. This can now be done using our Report Copyright Material form. Fill out the form, and the webmaster will be notified of the situation.

There are also times when files found on BeYoND THe iLLuSioN have a real home somewhere else on the Internet. In these instances, we will gladly replace the file with a link to its true home whenever it is brought to our attention. If you know of the true home of any of these files, you can use our Report Original URL form to bring it yo our attention.