Mysterious Camden Blobs Identified

Part of the mystery afflicting streets and sidewalks in the city's Waterfront South neighborhood is solved: The substance polka-dotting the streets is paraffin wax and health officials say it poses no risk.

But state and county officials won't venture a guess as to how it got there.

Camden County Health Department spokeswoman Lorraine Hynes said the hot weather probably made the goo more noticeable, melting the little dabs of it into large, dark splotches that decorate pavement in an area that's home to both industrial facilities and homes.

In the last few weeks, cracking the case of the stuff on the streets became a near-obsession for a few neighborhood residents including Bonnie Sanders. They figured the stuff wasn't roof tar or chewing gum and feared it was harmful.

Paraffin wax is used in industrial processes and for making candles. Forms of it available commercially melt at temperatures starting at about 125 degrees, a temperature sidewalks certainly reached under a blistering sun mixing with temperatures nearing 100 degrees several times in the last few weeks.

Though the case is closed as far as the health department is concerned, it is not for Sanders.

"I believe they're covering it up, I really do," said Sanders, who said she'd heard about the splotches in neighboring towns including Collingswood and Philadelphia.

"How would wax fly all the way across the Delaware River?" she asked.

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Author: 6 ABC-AP