State checking safety of daycare centers

State environmental officials are asking polluters to make sure that they aren't putting children in nearby day care centers in danger, according to a newspaper report.

In a letter dated Jan. 29, Department of Environmental Protection officials asked owners of businesses that have groundwater pollution under their facilities to determine whether the contaminants have reached day care centers nearby.

DEP Assistant Director of Remediation, Ron Corcory, said the letters were "purely precautionary" and did not indicate that the department feels children are at risk.

The letter stems from mercury contamination that was found at a day care center in Gloucester County's Franklin Township. The school was built on the same site where a thermometer factory used to do business.