Oregon authorities on Wednesday told the public they do not see community-wide health impacts from an air pollution hot spot in Southeast Portland and downplayed unanswered questions that remain.

Among the lingering concerns revealed at a news conference Wednesday: three people with lab results showing cadmium at levels that doctors will have to monitor.

But state health and environmental officials said new soil tests justified lifting a warning against planting gardens within a half-mile of Bullseye Glass, whose past arsenic and cadmium use regulators linked to the hot spot.

Health officials said they were relieved that they hadn't found widespread health impacts from two glassmakers. Five-year reviews of lung and bladder cancer data around the two air hot spots found nothing unusual. An analysis going back to 1999 is underway.

"We're not seeing evidence of health problems caused by metal emissions," said Lynne Saxton, director of the Oregon Health Authority.

The state released the results of soil testing in Powell City Park and a nearby daycare, Children's Creative Learning Center, which found levels of metals above state safety goals. The results showed elevated levels of hexavalent chromium, which can cause ulcers and anemia when ingested, in the dirt on the daycare's playground.

But officials said the results were too low to be harmful to people and didn't recommend cleanups.

Before the announcements Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the daycare said the facility's leaders planned to conduct a cleanup regardless of the state's findings.

Soil tests from the employee parking lot at the nearby Fred Meyer corporate headquarters didn't find any elevated levels of metals.

Key questions remain. Saxton's agency has not yet completed its investigation of notable levels of cadmium found in seven people, including two children. Since the state began collecting lab results of urine tests for cadmium on Feb. 18, they've gotten information on 200 people in Multnomah County. One adult and two children had high enough levels that the state is recommending they follow up with their doctors.

The results aren't acute, said Katrina Hedberg, the state's health officer, and don't warrant immediate medical treatment. But they need to be investigated, she said.

The Oregon Health Authority is still working to contact those seven people to see whether they have any connection to either air pollution hot spot detected in North Portland and Southeast Portland.

Keith Johnson, cleanup manager for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, said the agency has no plans to do further soil testing around Bullseye Glass, the business at the center of the Southeast Portland hot spot.

Soil testing by The Oregonian/OregonLive found elevated levels of cadmium to the south of the business, where the state did not test. Johnson said the agency would "take a look at that information and evaluate what the next steps may be."

One potential soil contamination site will be ignored. Jon Isaacs, a Portland Public Schools spokesman, said the school district has not tested outside Cleveland High School, where a U.S. Forest Service soil test found arsenic at 36 times the ordinary level in Portland. The test registered 11 times the standard for lead.

A cleanup expert described those levels as "alarmingly high" but cautioned that more tests were needed to confirm the results.

Isaacs said the school district did not plan to follow up, but did not explain why. The district took only one soil sample outside Cleveland, from the school's football field.

Chris Edmonds, a spokesman for Bullseye Glass, said the company was pleased with the state's findings. "These soil samples show there is no need for public concern," he said. "It's unfortunate that this issue was handled in a way that caused panic, lawsuits and confusion."

The state has not yet released the results of soil testing around a North Portland cadmium hotspot it connected to Uroboros Glass. Those results, along with air testing around the glass facilities, is expected to be made public next week.

Both companies have told the state they want to resume using trivalent chromium before they install pollution controls on their furnaces. The glassmakers agreed to halt its use last month amid concerns that the harmless compound could become carcinogenic hexavalent chromium when heated to very high temperatures.

The Department of Environmental Quality told both Uroboros and Bullseye that they would first need to prove that wouldn't happen.

The state also unveiled a new website Wednesday, which officials promised to use to share information more rapidly with the public than they have to date.

Kelly House contributed reporting.

-- Rob Davis