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Wipe Sampling Program

RESIDENTIAL DUST CLEANUP PROGRAM
(This Program Ended in 2003)

Message Center
(212) 637-3435

Testing Results Data

Supplemental Information

In May 2002, EPA launched a voluntary program to either clean and test or just test any home in Lower Manhattan for asbestos in the air. Ultimately, over 4,100 homes participated in the program. The Agency also collected wipe samples in a subset of the households that were cleaned and tested or tested only through the program.

The samples were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the three techniques (wet wiping, wet mopping and HEPA vacuuming) that were used and recommended for cleaning indoor spaces impacted by the collapse of the World Trade Center. They also contributed additional data to the body of information about materials from the disaster and their impacts.

Wipe samples, collected by wiping a piece of soft filter paper over a representative hard surface such as a floor, were analyzed for dioxin and 23 elements, including lead and mercury, and evaluated against health-based screening levels. For apartments in the test-only program, samples were collected before air sampling and are equivalent to a pre-cleaning sample. In homes that underwent testing only, samples were taken before testing for asbestos in the air.

The samples were taken in approximately 263 homes that were cleaned and tested or tested only. The data includes pre- and post-cleaning wipe samples from 222 homes; some data also exists for 41 additional apartments.

The wipe samples were analyzed for dioxins and 23 elements:

     1.   aluminum (Al)
     2.   antimony (Sb)
     3.   arsenic (As)
     4.   barium (Ba)
     5.   beryllium (Be)
     6.   cadmium (Cd)

      7.   calcium (Ca)
     8.   chromium (Cr)
     9.   cobalt (Co)
    10.  copper (Cu)
    11.  iron (Fe)
    12.  lead (Pb) 		    13.  magnesium (Mn)
    14.  manganese (Mg)
    15.  mercury (Hg)
    16.  nickel (Ni)
    17.  potassium (K)
    18.  selenium (Se) 		   19.  silver (Ag)
    20.  sodium (Na)
    21.  thallium (Ti)
    22.  vanadium (V)
    23.  zinc (Zn)

For more information on this page, contact Benjamin Barry

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