Asbestos Contaminates Oak Street Beach

By Andrew Peerless in News on Jun 17, 2005 1:37PM

Anyone that's lived through a summer in Chicago knows that, from time to time, choice lakefront beaches may be temporarily closed due to high levels of E. Coli in the water. Yeah, it's gross, but you deal with it and just look forward to going back to the beach (like Frankie and Annette) when things settle down... but who knew that the sand at the beach can be just as toxic as the water?

Researchers at UIC have been testing sand from the Gold Coast's Oak Street Beach as part of a two-year research study, and have unearthed "elevated" concentrations of asbestos in the vast majority of their samples. The sand was actually being tested only as a benchmark to be used for comparison of sand from Illinois Beach State Park, in Lake Forest Zion, which borders former asbestos manufacturing sites and is now considered safe (Illinois Beach's asbestos numbers are lower than those found at Oak Street). How disconcerting...

"So, what now?" you ask. Well, the federal government has no specific standards for carcinogenic sand (thanks, guys!), but Chicago Park District officials have tested the air on the beach and come up with a "zero" reading for asbestos... which seems to mean that, for the time being, it's okay to go to Oak Street Beach. The researchers in charge of the study actually think that soil levels in any urban area would probably reflect asbestos levels that are no different that what was found at Oak Street, so - unless you're a sand-eater or were planning to make a breathing apparatus out of sand from Oak Street Beach - you're probably in the clear...