In 1925, The New York Times Published the following words of Dr. Yandell Henderson, Professor of Applied Physiology at Yale University: “…the breathing day by day of fine lead dust from automobiles using leaded gasoline will produce chronic lead poisoning on a large scale in the population of cities…” and would cause “… vast number of the population to suffer from slow lead poisoning…”. He stated that “…This is probably the greatest single question in the field of public health that has ever faced the American public…”. Furthermore, he stated that “…It is the question whether scientific experts are to be consulted, and the action of the Government guided by their advice; or whether, on the contrary, commercial interests are to be allowed to subordinate every other consideration to that of profit".
To read the entire story, see the original article in the New York Times (1925)
Caltech Professor Clair Patterson stated the following in 1980: “Sometime in the near future it probably will be shown that the older urban areas of the United States have been rendered more or less uninhabitable by the millions of tons of poisonous industrial Pb residues that have accumulated in cities during the past century………Extrapolating from present information, …probably… it will be shown in the future that average American adults experience a variety of significant physiological and intellectual dysfunctions caused by long-term chronic lead insult to their bodies and minds which results from excess exposures to industrial lead that are five hundred-fold above natural levels of lead exposure, and that such dysfunctions on this massive scale may have significantly influenced the course of American history.” (NRC, 1980; see p. 265-349). This pivotal and controversial statement of Clair Patterson’s provided inspiration for this website.
1) Soil (from leaded gasoline, exterior lead paint and lead smelters);
2) House Dust (from lead in soil and interior paint particles);
3) Water (from lead water lines)
The lead emitted from gasoline (see line in blue) in high traffic inner city areas between the 1920's and 1980's (in the US) was deposited and incorporated within the top 5-10 centimetres of the surrounding soils. We now know that the lead in these soils can become resuspended into the air where it migrates into homes. People and pets also track the lead contaminated soil into homes. Children and adults are then poisoned. This, and in certain cases exposure to flaking lead paint and lead from lead water pipes, has resulted in epidemics of lead poisoning in large parts of some inner-city areas. This is a global phenomenon and will continue until lead in soil dust in urban areas is isolated.
Source - Laidlaw and Filippelli (2008)
Lead emitted from gasoline (petrol) in high traffic Australian inner city areas between the 1930's and 2002.
Source - Mielke, Laidlaw and Gonzales (2010)
View Lead Poisoning Percentages in Each Detroit School
This chart shows that when soil lead concentrations increase, children's blood lead levels increase.
In many urban inner-city areas of the United States, there is an epidemic of childhood blood lead poisoning (Gould, 2009). It has been estimated that 24.5%, or 9.6 million U.S. children have a blood lead in the range of 2 to 10 micrograms per decilitre, a level which will cause sub-clinical signs (Gould, 2009). The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III 1999-2002 database indicates that approximately 2.4 million children have blood Pb levels between 5 and 9.9 microgram/deciliter (Iqbal et al., 2008) and that within that population of 1-'5-year olds with blood Pb levels of 5 microgram/deciliter or higher, the prevalence was 47% for non-Hispanic Black children, 28% for Mexican American children, and 19% for non-Hispanic White children (Bernard and McGeehin, 2003). The fact that children of color are nearly 4 times more likely than white children to have blood Pb levels between 5 and 10 microgram/deciliter (and 13 times more likely to have blood Pb levels above 20 microgram/deciliter) (Bernard and McGeehin, 2003) raises concerns about social justice and the long-term health of these children. In addition, in 2004, in 10 ABLES states, a total of 10,527 females aged 16--44 years were tested, and all BLLs for this group were reported. Of the number tested, 1,370 (13.0%) had BLLs >5 µg/dL (10.9 per 100,000 female residents aged 16--44 years). I have not located the breakdown by race or by urban versus suburban area yet.
Childhood lead poisoning (Zahran et al., 2013a), (Zahran et al., 2013b) and preeclampsia/eclampsia (Zahran et al., 2014) have been shown to be associated with lead in soil and dust.
1) Childhood lead poisoning is one of the most common pediatric health problems in the United States today (CDC, 2014); Source
2) “Preeclampsia ... is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide and a major cause of preterm delivery”.... "Predicting preeclampsia is a major step towards saving the lives of many women”.Source
3) Lead is associated with autism Link to Review Paper
Low PbB levels (<10 ug/dL) typically associated with urban soil Pb exposure are associated with a myriad of health outcomes. Low PbB levels (<10 ug/dL) are associated with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)(Nigg et al., 2010), a reduction in children’s tests scores for reading (odds ratio = 0.51, p = 0.006) (Chandramouli et al., 2009), writing (odds ratio = 0.49, p = 0.003) (Chandramouli et al., 2009; Miranda et al., 2007) and mathematics (Miranda et al., 2007). Canfield et al. (2003) observed that when lifetime average PbB concentrations in children increased from 1 to 10 mg/dL, the intelligence quotient (IQ) declined by 7.4 points. Jusko et al. (2008) observed that compared with children who had lifetime average PbB concentrations < 5 mg/ dL, children with lifetime average concentrations between 5 and 9.9 mg/dL scored 4.9 points lower on Full-Scale IQ (91.3 vs. 86.4, p = 0.03). Similarly, Surkan et al. (2007) observed that children with 5-10 mg/dL had 5.0 (S.D. 2.3) points lower IQ scores compared to children with PbB levels of 1-2 mg/dL (p = 0.03). Interestingly, multiple studies have shown that that the strongest Pb effects on IQ occurred within the the first few micrograms of PbB (Schnaas et al., 2006; Canfield et al., 2003; Lanphear et al., 2005). Low PbB levels (<10 ug/dL) have also been associated with various physiological outcomes such as kidney damage (Fadrowski et al., 2010), dental caries (Moss et al., 1999), puberty delay in boys (Williams et al., 2010) and girls (Selevan et al., 2003) and cardiovascular outcomes in adults (Navas-Acien et al., 2007).
For a recent review of the health effects of lead exposure, see Bellinger, 2011. Another good article to read is titled Epigenetics of early-life lead exposure and effects on brain development by Senut et al. (2012).
Eclampsia is a life-threatening complication of pregnancy, is a condition that causes a pregnant woman, usually previously diagnosed with preeclampsia (high blood pressure and protein in the urine), to develop seizures or coma. Women with preeclampsia are predisposed to convulsions, abruption placentae, disseminated intravascular coagulation, cerebral hemorhage, pulmonary edema, renal failure, liver haemorrhage and have an increased risk of developing hypertension and stroke later in life. The risks to foetuses include severe growth retardation, hypoxemia, acidosis, premature birth and death.
Link to a very recent review of the association between lead and preeclampsia/eclampsia/hypertension
The emerging lead poisoning paradigm is that chronic urban lead poisoning is caused by exposure to lead contaminated soil (contaminated from past leaded gasoline emissions and exterior lead paint) that is tracked into the interior of homes by shoes(Hunt et al., 2006)and the feet and fur of family pets and exterior urban soil that is re-suspended into the atmosphere where it penetrates interiors of homes and settles on interior contact surfaces(Layton and Beamer, 2009)(Laidlaw and Filippelli, 2008). Children are also exposed to lead via direct ingestion of soil outdoors. Chronic urban lead poisoning can also be caused by exposure to interior lead paint dust particles during renovation of older homes and flaking of interior lead paint dust particles and lead leaching into tap water from old lead pipes. Sometimes, children are exposed to lead originating from BOTH lead paint particles AND from exterior lead contaminated soil dust. Children are primarily exposed via hand to mouth activity (thumb sucking). Acute lead poisoning is probably caused by ingestion of interior and exterior lead paint that has chipped or via ingestion of a large dose of soil with high lead concentrations.
See also, Filippelli and Laidlaw, 2010
In a study of 575 homes in Sacramento, California (USA) Sutton et al. (1995) stated the following: “Continuous variables measured in this survey expected to influence lead levels in house dust include age of housing, lead levels in interior and exterior paint and soil and paint deterioration. Spearman correlation coefficients for lead dust concentration levels and age of housing, interior paint, exterior paint and soil were -0.34, 0.19, 0.29 and 0.35, respectively (p < 0.01 for each). These variables had little ability to explain dust lead loading levels measured. Spearman correlation coefficients for dust lead loading and age of housing, lead levels in interior paint, and soil were -0.20, 0.12, 0.15, and 0.18, respectively (p <0.02). Among these four variables, interior paint lead levels had the weakest association with lead levels measured in dust (ppm or micrograms per meter squared). Interior paint condition was not associated with dust lead levels. There was a statistically significant but small relationship between exterior paint condition and lead dust concentration levels in Sacramento (Spearmen correlation coefficient r = 0.16, p = 0.03) and dust lead loading in Los Angeles (Spearmen correlation coefficient r = 0.015, p = 0.02). Households in Los Angeles reporting interior paint changes in the past year had geometric mean dust lead loading levels twice as high as in households not reporting paint changes ( 47 micrograms per meter squared compared to 23 micrograms per meters squared). No correlation between lead concentration and interior paint changes was demonstrated in either of the two communities tested.”
Priest and Frank (1990) reviewed the literature regarding lead in bones and teeth. Priest and Frank (1990) indicated that modern skeletal levels have been claimed to be 1000 times greater those determined in ancient Peruvian skeletons. The levels of lead in bones has been observed to be highest in inner city residents compared to suburban and rural residents. In addition, a linear increase in the logarithm of the bone lead concentration was found with age (r=0.9). At ages 3 to 4, the mean bone lead concentration for urban specimens was 5.55 ppm 4.05 ppm for suburban, and for rural as little as 1.9 ppm, whereas at ages 9 to 10, the means were 13.1, 10 and 6.3 respectively. Teeth in urban children contained five times as much lead as those of rural children. Another study showed urban tooth lead levels twice as high as suburban levels. These findings have been observed internationally. Thus it has been shown that children efficiently absorb lead which is stored in their bones.(Source - Priest, Nicholas D. , and Van de Vyver Frank. 1990. Trace Metals and Fluoride in Bones and Teeth. CRC Press, 400 p).
| Investigator | % House Dust From Soil |
|---|---|
| Hawley (1985) | |
| Thornton et al. (1985) | |
| Camann and Harding (1989) | |
| Fergusson and Kim (1991) | |
| Calabrese and Stanek (1992) |
This figure suggests that the simple act of residents removing their shoes before entering their homes can have a major impact on the soil lead concentrations inside homes. Another of the many lines of evidence that lead in soil contributes to indoor lead exposure.
Laidlaw et al. Sydney House and Soil XAS Study
Pingitore et al. 2011 - Contributions of Paint and Soil to Pb in Household Dust Wipes: An XAS Study
This plot shows that soil that has been resuspended into the atmosphere is highly correlated with air lead concentrations. This is important as it indicates that air lead levels are linked with surficial soil lead concentrations. Therefore, reducing air lead concentrations must involve isolation of urban lead contaminated soils
Source - Zahran S., Laidlaw M.A.S., McElmurry S.P., Filippelli G.M. Taylor M. (2013)
This plot shows that children's blood lead levels are highly correlated with atmospheric lead concentrations (which are correlated with atmospheric soil on the previous page). This is important as it is apparent that to reduce children's blood lead levels, soil lead contamination must be isolated. Furthermore, this plot indicates that Pb paint (the erroneous paradigm of blood lead causality) cannot be attributable to seasonal variations in children's blood lead levels.
Source - Zahran S., Laidlaw M.A.S., McElmurry S.P., Filippelli G.M. Taylor M. (2013)
This chart shows that the inner city soils of New Orleans are highly contaminated with lead. This bullseye pattern is typical of large cities that used lead in gasoline for many years. Unfortunately, the residents of many inner-city areas in the US are African American and Hispanic.
The figure below is particularly important because it shows the soil Pb content along with the corresponding soil Pb loading of the communities of New Orleans. The map illustrates the difference between common measurements of soil Pb and the quantities of Pb on the soil surface that children are likely to encounter during outdoor play activities. The 2013 standard for dust Pb loading on interior floors is ~431 µg/m2 (40 µg/ft2 based on U.S. standards). Note that in this figure soil containing the minimum Pb of 6 µg/g has a Pb loading value of ~430 µg/m2 and that soil containing 400 µg/g, the U.S. HUD, EPA and CDC standard, has a Pb loading value of ~16,200 µg/m2 . This means that the U.S. EPA soil Pb standard poses a Pb loading value in outside environments which is over 37 times larger than the Pb dust standard allowed on floors within home interior environments
The USEPA's soil Pb residential guideline is 400 mg/kg. The first chart shows that as soil lead levels increase, children's blood lead levels increase. The second chart (below) indicates the blood lead response of children's blood lead levels (of various age groups)to an exposure of soil lead of 400 mg/g (based upon Mielke's empirical study). This chart indicates that an exposure of 400 mg/kg will result in a blood lead exceeding 5 micrograms per declitre (the current CDC blood lead reference level). Note that lead is not safe at any level.It also shows what the blood lead level response would be using Norways guidelines. In essence, based upon the current CDC reference level and the empirical soil lead blood blood lead relationship, this chart shows that the 400 mg/kg guideline is inadequate and that it would be appropriate to adopt the Norwegian guideline (note that the California guideline is 80 mg/kg). However this has major implications given the large regions in urban areas exceeding 100 mg/kg.
Link to Source
The interesting thing about this map is that it is only based on a sample of 8% of the children in Indianapolis. Moreover, one study of the NHANES data indicated that for every case of blood lead exceeding 10 micrograms per decilitre, there were 7.7 cases exceeding 5 micrograms per decilitre. Note that lead is not safe at any level.
Unfortunately, the African-American and Hispanic populations have the highest exposure in Chicago. This situation appears to be happening in many of the major inner-cities of the USA. The exposure results from a combination of lead in soil dust, flaking lead paint dust and lead water lines. The absence of any efforts to investigate, remediate or educate the public regarding the lead in dust soil exposure pathway in areas predominantly comprised predominantly of African Americans and Hispanics brings some to question whether environmental racism is occurring. Some people ask the question whether urgent action would have occured if this situation was present in white suburban areas.
LEAD CONTENT OF SOILS ALONG CHICAGO'S EISENHOWER AND LOOP-TERMINAL EXPRESSWAYS
Link to separate United States Geological Survey (USGS)Soil Lead Study of Chicago
Distribution of soil lead in 87 Chicago Gardens - Finster et al. (2003)
Gasoline Pb in soil of Chicago Play Areas (Argonne National Laboratory, 1986)
Link to Philadelphia, Pennslyvania - Soil Lead Map
Quote from the conclusion of this paper (Wu et al., 2010): "This study found that areas occupied by majority (population ratio larger than 50%) African American and Hispanic populations have higher soil lead concentrations than Non-Hispanic Whites (data not shown). This finding implies that minority groups in the study area have a higher potential for exposure to lead from soils. Considering the higher birth rates in minority populations, especially people of Hispanic descent, it is likely that lead from soils plays a greater role in childhood blood lead poisoning in children who live in these areas". Note that the soil lead concentrations on this map represent the bioavailable portion of the soil which is easily transferred to the bloodstream when ingested or inhaled. The total concentration for these calculations, which are presented on all the other maps on this site, have much higher concentrations.
Link to California Soil Lead Studies
Link to California Soil Lead Studies
Link to California Soil Lead Studies
Link to CDC El Paso Discussion of Study
Berlin, Germany - Soil Lead Map
Karlsruhe, Germany - Soil Lead Map
2009 Milwaukee Blood Lead Seasonality Study
Older Milwaukee Blood Lead Seasonality Study
Link to Source of Figures 4 and 5
View Lead Poisoning Percentages in Each Detroit School
In many urban inner-city areas of the United States, there is an epidemic of childhood blood lead poisoning (Gould, 2009). It has been estimated that 24.5%, or 9.6 million U.S. children have a blood lead in the range of 2 to 10 micrograms per decilitre, a level which will cause sub-clinical signs (Gould, 2009). The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III 1999-2002 database indicates that approximately 2.4 million children have blood Pb levels between 5 and 9.9 microgram/deciliter (Iqbal et al., 2008) and that within that population of 1-'5-year olds with blood Pb levels of 5 microgram/deciliter or higher, the prevalence was 47% for non-Hispanic Black children, 28% for Mexican American children, and 19% for non-Hispanic White children (Bernard and McGeehin, 2003). The fact that children of color are nearly 4 times more likely than white children to have blood Pb levels between 5 and 10 microgram/deciliter (and 13 times more likely to have blood Pb levels above 20 microgram/deciliter) (Bernard and McGeehin, 2003) raises concerns about social justice and the long-term health of these children. In addition, in 2004, in 10 ABLES states, a total of 10,527 females aged 16--44 years were tested, and all BLLs for this group were reported. Of the number tested, 1,370 (13.0%) had BLLs >5 µg/dL (10.9 per 100,000 female residents aged 16--44 years). I have not located the breakdown by race or by urban versus suburban area yet.
Note that the empirical relationship between soil lead and blood lead observed in New Orleans (below) and Detroit (below) displays steeper slopes than the USEPA IEUBK model (above). This could possibly suggest that IEUBK model is under-predicting blood lead levels at lower concentrations.
Lanphear et al. (1998): increasing soil lead concentration from background to 400 micrograms/g was estimated to produce an increase of 11.6% in the percentage of children estimated to have a blood lead level exceeding 10 micrograms/dL.
Malcoe et al. (2002): Logistic regression of yard soil lead >165.3 mg/kg (OR, 4.1; CI, 1.3-12.4) were independently associated with BPbs greater than or equal to 10 microg/dL.
Texas Dept. of Health (2004): Using large database from El Paso Area, study found an odds ratio 4.5 (1.4, 14.2)for the relationship between a 500 ppm increase in soil lead and blood lead level > 10 ug/dl.
Maisonette (1997): yard soil remediation showed the strongest association with changes in blood lead levels. This variable was found to be a protective factor for elevated blood lead levels in children (odds ratio, 0.28; confidence interval, 0.08-0.92).
2011 Lead Poisoning Health Effects Review Paper - Highly Recommended!
Childhood lead poisoning (Zahran et al., 2013a), (Zahran et al., 2013b) and preeclampsia/eclampsia (Zahran et al., 2014) have been shown to be associated with lead in soil and dust.
1) Childhood lead poisoning is one of the most common pediatric health problems in the United States today (CDC, 2014); Source
2) “Preeclampsia ... is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide and a major cause of preterm delivery”.... "Predicting preeclampsia is a major step towards saving the lives of many women”.Source
Link to a very recent review of the association between lead and preeclampsia/eclampsia/hypertension
2012 Association Between Aggravated Assault and Air Pb - Six City Study - Highly Recommended!
IF it is assumed that there is causality between lead exposure and violent attacks, what does that say about the culpability of those who were placed in prisons as a result of the lead peak, as well as those inprisoned due to violence in the inner cities? I do not know the answer.
Low PbB levels (<10 ug/dL) typically associated with urban soil Pb exposure are associated with a myriad of health outcomes. Low PbB levels (<10 ug/dL) are associated with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)(Nigg et al., 2010), a reduction in children’s tests scores for reading (odds ratio = 0.51, p = 0.006) (Chandramouli et al., 2009), writing (odds ratio = 0.49, p = 0.003) (Chandramouli et al., 2009; Miranda et al., 2007) and mathematics (Miranda et al., 2007). Canfield et al. (2003) observed that when lifetime average PbB concentrations in children increased from 1 to 10 mg/dL, the intelligence quotient (IQ) declined by 7.4 points. Jusko et al. (2008) observed that compared with children who had lifetime average PbB concentrations < 5 mg/ dL, children with lifetime average concentrations between 5 and 9.9 mg/dL scored 4.9 points lower on Full-Scale IQ (91.3 vs. 86.4, p = 0.03). Similarly, Surkan et al. (2007) observed that children with 5-10 mg/dL had 5.0 (S.D. 2.3) points lower IQ scores compared to children with PbB levels of 1-2 mg/dL (p = 0.03). Interestingly, multiple studies have shown that that the strongest Pb effects on IQ occurred within the the first few micrograms of PbB (Schnaas et al., 2006; Canfield et al., 2003; Lanphear et al., 2005). Low PbB levels (<10 ug/dL) have also been associated with various physiological outcomes such as kidney damage (Fadrowski et al., 2010), dental caries (Moss et al., 1999), puberty delay in boys (Williams et al., 2010) and girls (Selevan et al., 2003) and cardiovascular outcomes in adults (Navas-Acien et al., 2007).
Toxicity Below 10 ug/dl - CognitiveChiodo LM, Covington C, Sokol RJ, Hannigan JH, Jannise J, Ager J, Greenwald M, Delaney-Black V. 2007. Blood lead levels and specific attention effects in young children. Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2009_Miranda_Environmental_contributors_to_the_achievement_gap Lucchini, RG, S Zoni, S Guazzetti, E Bontempi, S Micheletti, K Broberg, G Parrinello and DR Smith. 2012. Inverse association of intellectual function with very low blood lead but not with manganese exposure in Italian adolescents. Environmental Research http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.003. |
Toxicity Below 10 ug/dl - Mortality |
"The soil emplacement was conducted by first spreading out a bright orange, water pervious geotextile material to cover the original soil of the play area. The geotextile layer prevents Pb-safe soil from mixing with the underlying original soil and acts as a warning layer to anyone digging into soil. Soil was not removed from the play areas in this project. The Pb-safe soil was from the Bonnet Carré Spillway, located up-river from New Orleans (U.S. ACE or Army Corps of Engineers). The alluvial soil, derived from the sediments of the Mississippi River at the Bonnet Carré Spillway, has a median Pb content of 5 mg/kg (Mielke et al., 2000). The Bonnet Carré soil was transported to the childcare center and emplaced on top of the geotextile layer to a depth of at least 15cm(6 inches)."
Jacobsville Neighborhood Lead Contamination Superfund Site Newsletter - May 2011
EPA and Partners Celebrate Reduced Lead Exposure in Children; Blood lead levels in children around Tar Creek site in Okla. greatly reduced.
Children in Tar Creek and Ottawa County, Oklahoma had historically been exposed to high levels of lead from former mining operations, especially around the Tar Creek Superfund site. In 1997, 21.5 percent of children living near Tar Creek showed elevated blood levels, defined as readings above 10 µg/dl (micrograms per deciliter). For the same year, 12.61 percent of children in Ottawa Co., OK, showed elevated levels. Since then, through EPA, state, and tribal cleanup activities, lead-contaminated soil has been removed from 2,887 residential yards and public properties in the area. With additional funding from EPA, the Ottawa County Health Department has worked to increase community awareness about lead poisoning prevention and the importance of blood lead screening for children. These activities have achieved striking results, with 0 percent of area children showing elevated levels [>10 micrograms per decilitre] in 2013.
I recommend that soil covering efforts first be conducted in areas where there is a high prevalence of lead poisoning and where soil lead levels are high (triage). I would first focus on roadside soils (0-25m)within these areas and then continue until areas with high lead poisoning prevalence are covered (or funds permit).
In the journal Environmental Science and Technology, Mielke et al. (2006) estimated the cost to remediate the soils in New Orleans. The abstract is presented below:
In New Orleans, LA prior to hurricane Katrina 20−30% of inner-city children had elevated blood Pb levels ≥10 μg/dL and 10 census tracts had a median surface soil level of Pb >1000 mg/kg (2.5 times the U.S. standard). This project tests the feasibility of transporting and grading contaminated properties (n = 25) with 15 cm (6 in.) of clean Mississippi River alluvium from the Bonnet Carré Spillway (BCS) (median soil Pb content 4.7 mg/kg; range 1.7−22.8). The initial median surface soil Pb was 1051 mg/kg (maximum 19 627). After 680 metric tons (750 tons) of clean soil cover was emplaced on 6424 m2 (69 153 ft2), the median surface soil Pb decreased to 6 mg/kg (range 3−18). Interior entrance wipe samples were collected at 10 homes before and after soil treatment and showed a decreasing trend of Pb (p value = 0.048) from a median of 52 μg/ft2 to a median of 36 μg/ft2 (25th and 75th percentiles are 22 and 142 μg/ft2 and 12 and 61 μg/ft2, respectively). Average direct costs for properties with homes were $3,377 ($1.95 per square foot), with a range of $1,910−7,020, vs $2,622 ($0.61 per square foot), with a range of $2,400−3,040 for vacant lots. Approximately 40% (86,000) of properties in New Orleans are in areas of >400 mg Pb/kg soil and estimated direct costs for treatment are between $225.5 and $290.4 million. Annual costs of Pb poisoning in New Orleans are estimated at ∼$76 million in health, education, and societal harm. Urban accumulation of Pb is an international problem; for example, the new Government of Norway established a policy precedence for an isolated soil cleanup program at daycare centers, school playgrounds, and parks to protect children. New Orleans requires a community-wide soil cleanup program because of the extent and quantity of accumulated soil Pb. The post-Katrina benefits of reducing soil Pb are expected to outweigh the foreseeable costs of Pb poisoning to children returning to New Orleans.
Gould, 2009 estimated that the net benefit of lead hazard control ranges from $181 to $269 billion, resulting in a return of $17–$221 for each dollar invested in lead hazard control. Note that the cost benefit by Gould did not include the cost benefit of reductions in autism, preeclampsia, schizophrenia, mental illness and many other diseases associated with lead poisoning. Thus the benefit of lead hazard reduction is likely to be much greater than Gould's estimates.
I strongly suggest that the new Obama government publish child blood lead incidence maps of the top 50 cities in the U.S by graphically displaying the location and all the blood lead concentrations (>5 ug/dl, > 10ug/dl and >20 ug/dl) for the previous 5 years, and updated yearly (see Detroit Blood Lead Incidence Map Above). The percentage of the children sampled should be boldly presented as well. These maps should be available for all to see on one central internet site. The website would be registered with all the major search engines so that anyone could locate the data. This data is already available and could easily be put together in a two month time period by someone experienced in GIS and the internet. The funding cost would be extremely small.
See Dot Maps of Children's Lead Poisoning in Various Wisconsin Cities
I suggest that the Obama administration use the United States Geological Survey to conduct an urban soil geochemical risk mapping program in the 50 largest cities in the United States. I recommend the geochemical mapping methods be adopted fromthe British Geological Survey, David L Johnson/colleagues at SUNY-ESF or Howard Mielke and colleagues at Tulane/Xavier. The results should be placed online in one central location for anyone to view.
1.)The USEPA's 400 mg/kg soil guideline is not protective of
human health. A safe guideline would be about 75 to 100 mg/kg. The California draft soil lead guideline is 80 mg/kgLink. The Minnesota
(USA) soil lead guideline is 100 mg/kg and the Dutch guideline is 40
mg/kg. See the dose-response curves of Mielke and Johnson's soil
lead-blood lead ecological study design above. Risk assessments that
have argued to leave lead concentrations higher than 400 mg/kg (and
higher than 100 mg/kg) are deeply flawed and these areas will have to
be revisited when a lower guideline level is adopted by a bold USEPA,
if that ever happens;
2.) There is a glaring disconnect between the actions of the
USEPA and the CDC. While the USEPA is cleaning up 10's of thousands
of lead contaminated yards in Tar Creek, Omaha and Evansville under the Superfund
program, the CDC does not have any money appropriated to the investigation
and remediation of URBAN contaminated soil and continue with the paradigm that
lead poisoning is caused primarily by lead paint. No money has been appropriated
by either the USEPA or the CDC for the investigation and remediation of non-Superfund
cities, of which many are just as contaminated Tar Creek, Omaha and Jacobsville;
3.) Why has the USEPA or the United States Geological Survey NOT conducted soil lead surveys of the largest cities in the United States like the British Geological Survey has completed in Great Britain? Would this have been done if the inner-city residents were white and wealthy and not composed of the urban poor, african americans and hispanics? It seems that the USGS can measure and assess lead in birds and pesticide contaminants in urban streams etc. etc. but not lead in urban soil, children or pregnant women?
4.) I think most people assume that the USEPA must have done alot of URBAN studies and have teams of researchers who have been on top of this? The USEPA has done very few URBAN studies and seems to be doing very little URBAN research based upon the lack of publications on this topic. So who is doing the research? Very very few academic scientists who have been doing research with an almost total lack of funding!
5.)It is very perplexing that many billion dollars have been spent remediating and investigating leaking underground storage tanks (USTs) across the US and internationally when there are actually very few complete exposure pathways, while there has been a TOTAL absence of funding on research and ACTION regarding urban soil lead contamination and children's lead exposure issues. This makes no sense given the widespread lead poisoning epidemics at levels that are well documented to cause deleterious health effects in inner-city urban children and pregnant women.
CalTech Masters Thesis on Clair Patterson
Kitman - Secret History of Lead (summary)
Kitman - Secret History of Lead (full version)
A conceptual model of child BPb seasonal Pb poisoning is suggested. Lead from multiple sources has accumulated in soils of urban environments. The seasonal resuspension of Pb-contaminated soil in urban atmospheres appears to be controlled by soil moisture and climate fluctuations. This study (Laidlaw et al., 2005)indicates that higher urban atmospheric Pb loading rates are experienced during periods of low soil moisture and within areas of Pb-contaminated surface soils. Children and adults living in urban areas where surface soils are contaminated with Pb may become exposed through indoor and outdoor inhalation of Pb dust and ingestion of Pb deposited within homes and outdoor surfaces. Because resuspension of Pb from contaminated soil appears to be driving seasonal child BPb fluctuations, concomitantly, we suggest that Pb-contaminated soil in and of itself may be the primary driving mechanism of child BPb poisoning in the urban environment.
Source - Zahran S., Laidlaw M.A.S., McElmurry S.P., Filippelli G.M. Taylor M. (2013)
Source - Zahran S., Laidlaw M.A.S., McElmurry S.P., Filippelli G.M. Taylor M. (2013)
I suggest that when the soil is resuspended, the fine fraction where the bulk of the petrol lead particles reside is suspended in the air. This fraction has a higher concentration than the bulk soil and also has a different isotopic signature (more anthropogenic) than the bulk soil. It is also suggested that air lead concentrations can result in very high concentrations at a height of two (m) in the summertime in cities where the soil lead concentrations are an order of magnitude higher than this Mexican city. It does not take much imagination to understand that air lead concentrations at two metres are at the same height as windows which likely results in air lead penetration into homes.
Source - Rio-Salas et al. (2012
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005019
Despite the dramatic decrease in airborne lead over the past three
decades, there are calls for regulatory limits on this potent pediatric
neurotoxin lower even than the new (2008) US Environmental Protection
Agency standard. To achieve further decreases in airborne lead, what
sources would need to be decreased and what costs would ensue? Our aim
was to identify and, if possible, quantify the major species
(compounds) of lead in recent ambient airborne particulate matter
collected in El Paso, TX, USA.
Methodology/Principal Findings:
We used synchrotron-based XAFS (x-ray absorption fine structure) to
identify and quantify the major Pb species. XAFS provides
molecular-level structural information about a specific element in a
bulk sample. Pb-humate is the dominant form of lead in contemporary El
Paso air. Pb-humate is a stable, sorbed complex produced exclusively in
the humus fraction of Pb-contaminated soils; it also is the major lead
species in El Paso soils. Thus such soil must be the dominant source,
and its resuspension into the air, the transfer process, providing lead
particles to the local air.
Conclusions/Significance:
Current industrial and commercial activity apparently is not a major
source of airborne lead in El Paso, and presumably other locales that
have eliminated such traditional sources as leaded gasoline. Instead,
local contaminated soil, legacy of earlier anthropogenic Pb releases,
serves as a long-term reservoir that gradually leaks particulate lead
to the atmosphere. Given the difficulty and expense of large-scale soil
remediation or removal, fugitive soil likely constrains a lower limit
for airborne lead levels in many urban settings.
Link to Another St. Louis Source
Link to California Soil Lead Studies
http://www.ehponline.org/members/2000/108p177-182yiin/108p177.pdf
State of New Jersey - 2000 to 2004 (USA)
Baltimore, Maryland & New York City (USA)
http://www.restena.lu/lhce/Chimie/Publications/PDF/2_lead_poisoning.pdf
http://www.ajph.org/cgi/reprint/54/8/1241.pdf
I have questioned whether the decline if in blood levels following the elimination of lead in gasoline has resulted because in urban areas highly contaminated soils have been resuspended year after year. What could be happening is that a sizable percentage of the resuspended soil and lead falls on impervious surfaces such as roofs and roadways. This material could have then been brought out of the system depositing into sediments in rivers and estuaries. This could conceivably be reducing the lead concentrations in urban soils and subsequents exposures in the atmosphere through resuspension. The "signal" should be present in the sediments of estuaries. (indeed it is in Sydney, AUstralia - see Birch - University of Sydney). This is only a hypothesis at present.
Garden Safe, Garden Well (Gabriel Filippelli, IUPUI)
2011 - Gardening and Lead Review Paper
Chicago Illinois Lead Uptake in Vegetables Study
Home Gardening in Lead Contaminated Soil
Gardening on Lead- and Arsenic-Contaminated Soils
Heavy metals contamination of home grown vegetables near metal smelters in NSW
Sustainable Gardening Information Page
Vegetable Consumption and Blood Lead Concentration
Eggs Laid in Urban Areas Can Be Contaminated with Lead
