"Health Expert: Toxic Parks in Miami Pose No Danger To the Public"

"Despite widespread concern about the potential effects of toxic metals in the soil of Coconut Grove’s parks, only a few people have apparently undergone testing for contamination.

Richard S. Weisman, director of the Florida Poison Information Center, told Grove residents at a health fair Saturday that 10 people had approached his office for advice about having their children tested for lead, arsenic and other materials. Of the 10, he said, only five later got back to him and reported the results of their tests, all of which were benign.

'It’s a ridiculously teeny number,' said Weisman, a professor of pediatrics and an associate dean at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. The parents who called his office, he recalled, 'all said their kids were in the parks all the time, rolling around in the dirt.'"

Nick Madigan reports for the Miami Herald April 13, 2014.