Study: Illinois Beach Park Asbestos No Big Threat
Environmental Group Claims Tests Were Rigged

(AP) CHICAGO Asbestos found in sand samples at Illinois Beach State Park poses no significant public health threat, university researchers have determined.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan on Tuesday released the final results of the testing she requested from researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Scientists found 11 of 12 sand samples tested at the Lake County beach last summer contained asbestos that can cause cancer when inhaled. But further testing revealed none of the samples posed a cancer risk that was considered excessive or unacceptable by federal standards.

Officials say this is the fourth study of asbestos at the beach to find no public health threat since 1998.

In 2004, authorities closed part of the park near the Wisconsin border when asbestos debris was found. It is near the Johns Manville Superfund Site, where a massive asbestos cleanup was done in 1991. The park attracted more than 1.2 million visitors in 2004.

Researchers recommended increasing beach surveillance for asbestos-containing material, reviewing education efforts for beach visitors about such material and surveying eroded beach areas for housing infrastructure remains that could have asbestos.

"These recommendations are important to the continued assurance that IBSP is an environmentally safe area for the public to visit," Madigan said in a statement.

The Illinois Dunesland Preservation Society has said the researchers did not take enough samples at the park to know for sure that the beaches are safe.

The environmental group, which has called for the state to shut down the entire park to assess the asbestos situation, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald last week claiming the tests ordered by Madigan were "rigged" to cover up microscopic asbestos fiber contamination.

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