VIENNA (AP) — Greenpeace is warning of “surprisingly high” levels of arsenic and mercury in the red sludge that seeped out of a burst reservoir in Hungary and has devastated the surrounding area.
The activists say samples taken Tuesday in the town of Kolontar showed 110 milligrams of arsenic and 1.3 milligrams of mercury per kilogram of dry matter. The result, which also show 660 milligrams of chrome per kilogram, are based on analyses carried out in laboratories in Vienna and in the Hungarian capital, Budapest.
Greenpeace officials told reporters Thursday that the detected arsenic concentration is twice that normally found in so-called red mud. Analysis of water in a canal also found arsenic levels 25 times the limit for drinking water.
