Toxic Sludge Update: Toxic Sludge

Authorities say the concentration of toxic heavy metals where Hungary's massive red sludge spill entered the Danube has dropped to the level allowed in drinking water.

The test results released by the National Catastrophe Management Directorate on Friday further allay concerns that the river would be significantly polluted.

Greenpeace is warning that its tests show the industrial waste contained high levels of arsenic and mercury. But Benedek Javor, head of the Hungarian Parliament's environmental committee, told AOL News that he asked government officials at the site today if they'd tested for those toxins and they said they had not.

"The reality is that when you see what happened, it looks like a science-fiction movie about Martians," Javor said. "It's shocking. This is killing everything. I think when all the tests are done we will be in for some not-so-good surprises."

Zoltan Illes, Hungary's environment minister, conceded the flood did contain "a high content of heavy metals", some of which could cause cancer.

Tibor Dobson, chief of Hungary's disaster relief services, urged residents near the flood area to wear face masks.

The warnings conflicted with the view of the prestigious Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which reiterated Friday that the red sludge remained hazardous due to its caustic alkalinity but its heavy metal concentrations were not considered dangerous for the environment.

"The academy can say whatever it wants," fumed Barbara Szalai Szita, who lives in Devecser, one of the hardest-hit villages. "All I know is that if I spend 30 minutes outside I get a foul taste in my mouth and my tongue feels strange."

On Friday, experts from the Research Institute for Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences took fresh samples of the earth tainted by the red sludge for analysis.

"The consistency of the red sludge totally stopped the respiratory activity of the soil and the normal microbial life in the soil," institute director Attila Anton said.