AN investigation into the agonising death of a dog near an East Cornwall playing field has found high levels of arsenic.

Caradon District Council's environment department carried out tests at Gunnislake's King George V playing field after local resident Audrey Martin's beloved pet dog Henry died of what was suspected to be arsenic poisoning.

Results suggest levels of arsenic in some places were almost seven times the current Government guidelines — but a Caradon Council officer stressed the levels were not high enough to harm humans.

Much of the Tamar Valley was once massively industrialised and pollution dating back centuries continues to cause concern. The field itself was constructed from mine waste.

Pat Gormley, Caradon's senior pollution officer said soil samples showed elevated arsenic levels way in excess of Government guidelines — currently 10 milligrams per kg for gardens and allotments, and 40mg/kg for parks, playing fields and open spaces.

Mr Gormley said the guidelines did not take into account the higher levels of arsenic naturally present in Cornwall, which, he said, far-exceeded these figures. The guidelines are anyway due an overhaul in the near future.

Mr Gormley said the levels were high, but were not considered high enough to be prejudicial to human health, the current acid-test for action — because to be harmful it would have to be ingested: either eaten or drunk.

'The levels are elevated, but the risk to human health is very, very low,' he said.

The average level over the field was 180mg/kg, but figures on the footpaths around the field exceeded 270mg/kg, almost seven times the current limit. The water run-off contained virtually nothing at all, Mr Gormley reported.

'A single drink is not going to do you a lot of good, but it's not going to kill you, though it could prove fatal if an animal or a human continued to drink over a period of time,' he said. 'It transpires this dog wouldn't drink tap water and drank regularly at one particular pool.'

The council does not plan to take any action on the field, but will put signs up around the path warning people of the hazard and urging them not to let their animals drink the water.

'Relative to the level of risk, it is impractical to do anything else and signage would be sufficient to prevent any further instances,' said Mr Gormley.

'The case on all this contaminated land will never close, if they change the standards we will deal with it,' he said.

Mrs Martin said: 'Unless they dig it all up, I can't see that the council can do any more.'

But she wasn't satisfied and feared for the safety of youngsters playing at the field and the adjacent playground.

'There's a lot of mine waste around here that needs looking at,' she said. 'The council spends money on things that don't matter and spend nothing on the things that do.'