Kansas City Area Laboratory Owner Convicted of Illegally Storing Hazardous Waste
Lab Used Radioactive Material and Solvents
Yesterday, a federal judge found Ahmed el-Sherif, the owner, operator, and radiation safety officer for Beta Chem Laboratory in Lenexa, Kansas, guilty of illegally storing hazardous waste in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Attorney Stephen R. McAllister for the District of Kansas, and Jessica Taylor, Director of the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The Honorable Julie A. Robinson issued a written verdict following the trial, which took place in February 2018. El-Sherif wanted, and was permitted, to waive his right to a jury trial and the case was heard by Judge Robinson in what is known as a “bench trial.”
El-Sherif, a trained chemist of Leawood, Kansas, started Beta Chem in the mid-1990s after having worked at several other radioactive synthesis laboratories. He used radioactive Carbon-14 and solvents in his operation, under license by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). KDHE has assumed regulatory authority for these purposes from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission under the Atomic Energy Act.
After Beta Chem was unable to provide KDHE with the required financial assurances regarding decommissioning the lab in the event that it was closed, KDHE inspected Beta Chem and discovered extensive radioactive contamination throughout the laboratory, including some parts of the lab with levels so high their instruments could not accurately read them. The radioactive contamination extended to the laboratory furniture, the equipment, including refrigerators, and containers of chemicals that were supposed to be non-radioactive. The next day, KDHE issued an Emergency Order of Suspension of License.
EPA conducted a hazardous waste inspection the same month, and subsequently notified el-Sherif of hazardous waste violations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). EPA also informed el-Sherif of his legal obligation to properly manage hazardous waste under RCRA. During the ensuing years, KDHE communicated with el-Sherif about the radioactive contamination at Beta Chem and they entered into a consent agreement in which he agreed to come up with a plan to remediate and dispose of the radioactive waste. While he engaged a number of consultants, el-Sherif never took any action to actually clean up the lab.
On October 4, 2013, after issuing an Emergency Order to Seize and Secure Radioactive Materials, KDHE took control of Beta Chem and secured the facility. EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, assisted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, executed a search warrant at Beta Chem on January 22, 2014, where agents discovered numerous containers containing hazardous wastes and contaminated with radiation. EPA determined there to be 1,138 containers at the lab, of which 886 had intact manufacturer labels with no handwriting, which showed many of those to be hazardous. The other containers were field tested for hazardous characteristics before being disposed of. In total, EPA determined there to be over two hundred pounds of hazardous waste, some of which was acute hazardous waste. All of the containers tested were radioactive, and forty-five percent of the contents tested were radioactive.
EPA’s Superfund program spent over $760,000 to remove and dispose of the hazardous waste.
“The public expects and deserves that those in the business of using dangerous radioactive materials do so in compliance with law,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This defendant breached that trust, deliberately disobeyed the law, and ignored requests by KDHE and EPA to bring his laboratory into compliance with statutes and regulations designed to protect the public and the environment.”
“For years, the defendant knowingly stored hazardous waste with no regard to the serious public health and environmental dangers it posed,” said Special Agent in Charge of EPA’s criminal enforcement program for the EPA Regions covering Kansas Jeff Martinez. “Even when told to stop his dangerous practice, Mr. el-Sherif continued to ignore the risks. Yesterday’s guilty verdict should send a clear message that EPA will hold accountable those who willfully violate the law.”
Acting Assistant Attorney General Wood and U.S. Attorney McAllister thanked the U.S. EPA and the FBI for their work in this investigation. This case is being prosecuted by the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice. Senior Counsel Krishna S. Dighe and Trial Attorney John E. Arbab with the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section in Washington, D.C., aided by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Mattivi, are in charge of the prosecution.
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Beta Chem Laboratory (State of Kansas)
This site description was provided by the cognizant Agreement State, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) makes no claim regarding the validity of the information provided. See our Site Disclaimer for more information.1.0 Site Identification
| Type of Site: | Complex Materials |
| Location: | Lenexa, KS |
| License No.: | 25-C686-01 |
| Docket No.: | |
| License Status: | Revoked |
2.0 Site Status Summary
The site is located in Lenexa, KS in a unit of a multi-unit building in an industrial park. From 1993 to 2005 the licensee was authorized for and conducted synthesis of C-14 labeled compound as tracers for research. The site is an approximately 2000 square foot unit in a multi-unit building with an appliance store, an industrial machinery business and a toffee sales operation as adjacent tenants. The license was due for renewal in 2005 and after repeated attempts to obtain the required financial assurance and other information needed for the renewal failed, an inspection was performed. Extensive radioactive contamination was found during the inspection and an Emergency Order of Suspension of License was issued September 21, 2005. Between 2006 and 2012, KDHE attempted to compel the licensee to comply with the conditions of its license, the emergency order and consent agreements which the licensee had signed. The licensee continued to remain in non-compliance and on August 28, 2013, an "Emergency Order to Seize and Secure Radioactive Materials" was issued by KDHE to the licensee. Due to the presence of other hazardous materials in the laboratory materials and funding limitations, KDHE's Radiation Control Program seized the control of the building unit but did not conduct decontamination/decommissioning operations. On February 18, 2014, KDHE referred the Site to EPA's Superfund program to conduct a Site investigation and commence a time-critical response as appropriate to address the threat of release of wastes and abandoned chemicals currently in storage at the Site. Future actions by KDHE will be dependent on the completion of EPA's removal action.3.0 Major Technical or Regulatory Issues
The major technical issue of this site is the extensive number (>1000) of labeled or unidentified hazardous chemical containers used in the synthesis of the licensee's product. Numerous containers are either unlabeled or the labels have been altered or defaced. Virtually all of them have some level of C-14 contamination of the containers.==========================
Kansas Cops Shocked By Deadly Secret Muslim Leader Kept Hidden At Work
March 22, 2017 Mad World News Exclusive Content Religion, U.S. News
Pictured: Ahmed El Sherif, Founder of American Muslim Council of Greater Kansas City, (left & right). A Muslim leader, who founded the American Muslim Council of Greater Kansas City, has been indicted. It is horrifying to think that he has worked in a Kansas industrial park for some time, and authorities just recently discovered the terrifying deadly secret he kept hidden at work.
Chemist and Muslim leader Ahmed El-Sherif ran a facility called Beta Chem Laboratory in Lenexa, Kansas. His lab is now closed, and El-Sherif indicted, as the facility has been identified as a hazard that will cost U.S. taxpayers more than $760,000 to clean up. However, the cost is not the only concern presented by El-Sherif and his laboratory.
As a Muslim leader and the founder of the American Muslim Council of Greater Kansas City, he has been illegally storing radioactive material in large quantities. Federal prosecutors have not specified where El-Sherif obtained isotope Carbon-14 and Radium-226, the radioactive elements allegedly used to process pharmaceutical compounds at the lab. The dangers presented by these elements, especially in the wrong hands, are frightening, to say the least.
According to Creeping Sharia:
Radioactive materials commonly are used in research to create and test new medicines, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s website, which also notes research labs must follow strict rules when ordering, storing, using and disposing of radioactive material.
Radium that is swallowed or inhaled can accumulate in a person’s bones. Long-term exposure increases the risk of developing several diseases, such as lymphoma, bone cancer, and diseases that affect the formation of blood, the EPA says.
Court records reveal that El-Sherif illegally stored radioactive hazardous waste and obstructed the discovery of those wastes by filing bogus Beta Chem tax returns. The tax returns were meant to show El-Sherif’s ability to cover the sites cleanup costs.
At the site, numerous containers were found to hold hazardous waste that had been tainted with radiation. Of the 1,134 containers screened, “almost all of the containers had elevated levels of radiation,” according to the indictment. The indictment does not specify if people other than El-Sherif were able to access the lab and the materials.
Some sources report that El-Sherif has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and has relationships with convicted Muslim terrorists and others who work to infiltrate politics at the local level. Those reports are still being investigated at this time.
Were El-Sherif’s crimes simply the result of carelessness or ineffective management? Few believe that. Was he trying to save money by storing the materials rather than properly dispose of them? Given the serious nature of the radioactive waste he was hiding, it is an issue worthy of the attention of federal authorities. Hopefully, they were able to put a lid on El-Sherif and Beta Chem before it was too late.