The University News

Issue date: 11/2/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Alexia Lang Bernard Hurley, founder and president of Family Environmental, collects soil samples from the old landfill within the city limits of Cameron, Mo.

Media Credit: Alexia Lang Bernard Hurley, founder and president of Family Environmental, collects a water sample from a creek that runs through an area possibly contaminated with toxic chemicals.

When Bernard Hurley heard about the chemicals discovered in various locations across northwest Missouri, he knew his company could be of some help.

Hurley is the founder and president of Family Environmental, a local environmental testing agency.

He spoke with U-News reporter Kelley Kates, a pre-Law student at UMKC who has a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies and has done environmental consulting for his company, about offering the company's services pro-bono.

Hurley visited Cameron Oct. 8 to collect water and soil samples to test for toxic chemicals.

With the city's permission, two soil samples and one water sample were taken from the city-owned landfill. One water sample was taken from Grindstone Reservoir, the city's water source.

Lastly, a soil sample was collected from the farmland of Sue Estep-Steinman, a resident of Union Star, Mo.

For the last three years, Estep-Steinman has allowed the fertilizer from Prime Tanning, which turned out to be sludge containing chromium VI, to be applied to her pasture.

Once the test results return from the lab, U-News will provide the findings to the city of Cameron, Estep-Steinman and Marcus Iszard, toxicologist and UMKC professor of Pharmacology, who will analyze the data and use it when drafting his research proposal for a grant that would fund a comprehensive investigation of the cause of more than 70 tumors reported in the area of Cameron.

- Alexia Lang

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