Lead Poinsoning and the DPS

[SWMAP]

Did you read the article in yesterday's Freep and see the map? I am so puzzled. I grew up on the lower east side of Detroit in a house that was at least 40 years old then. Pretty sure that there was lead in the paint back then. And all my friends grew up in the same neighborhood. We all did well in school and went on the graduate from college, get advanced degress, etc. We are lawyers, teachers, psychologists, engineers, and scientists.

Maybe we aren't as smart as we would have been if there wasn't lead in the paint in our houses - but school wasn't hard for us. I am so puzzled that lead dust is so deeply affecting children in Detroit now and not then. We lived in the very houses that current kids live in. For example, I lived as a small child in my grandmother's house near Lillibridge. Later in the Fox Creek neighborhood.

[SWMAP]

But we are, I admit, bad spellers!!! How can I edit that title?

[milesdriven]

Lead paint is not a hazard until it starts to chip and peel. Many homes in the areas mentioned in the article were owner-occupied, and they were well kept. Now, most are owned by slumlords and occupied by tenants whose hungry children eat the paint chips when they are unsupervised.

[NorthofNormal]

It's not just paint chips--as the older paint starts to crumble, the dust can cause health problems in children and pregnant women.

[Warrenite84]

Not trying to rain on anyone's parade but aren't many of these areas also being considered for urban farms? How much of that lead paint made its way into the soil when residents scraped and repainted their homes? If allowable levels of lead and other chemicals are minimal then land use for farming would be fine, but as a potential customer of an urban farm's produce, I'd like to know...

[Melocoton]

Did you read the article in yesterday's Freep and see the map? I am so puzzled. I grew up on the lower east side of Detroit in a house that was at least 40 years old then. Pretty sure that there was lead in the paint back then. And all my friends grew up in the same neighborhood. We all did well in school and went on the graduate from college, get advanced degress, etc. We are lawyers, teachers, psychologists, engineers, and scientists.

I imagine you also walked 10 miles to your lead-painty school in the snow.

Not sure what you're asking. Are you disputing the medical evidence of lead paint's effects on children's health, based on your anecdotal personal experience? It seems pretty clear, from what I've read and what I was always told as a kid myself, that lead paint is terrible for children's brain development.

[barnesfoto]

1900s: Lead was regarded as a highly toxic chemical, with lead-based paint regarded as the most identifiable hazard. If a child ate paint chips, people recognized it could cause seizure, coma, and death. If it didn’t traumatically harm the child, he or she may have learning and behavioral disabilities.
1922: Lead was first introduce into gasoline, immediately drawing headlines concerning public health. The form of lead in gasoline was known as tetraethyl lead and it raised the octane level of gasoline, resulting in “premium” gas for high-performance engines.
1924: Five workers at a New Jersey plant died, with four of them going “insane” before their death. The New York Times [[subscription) covered the story, and New York City, Philadelphia, and other jurisdictions banned the sale of leaded gasoline.
1930s: The industries rejected scientific evidence, claiming there was no proof of causation and tried to blame the children and families as being irresponsible for allowing children to eat the paint chips, claiming that they were “sub-normal to start with.”
1965: A geochemist named Clair Patterson in Greenland brought the airborne lead issue into American consciousness. Until then, industry experts claimed only workers were at risk for lead poisoning, and that because lead has always been naturally in the air, it must be safe. Using ice core samples, Patterson found that higher levels of lead existed in recent samples than older ice. He further concluded that the amount of lead Americans had in their blood was 100 times greater than natural levels.
1970: Nixon signed the Clean Air Act of 1970 into law on December 31st, and the Environmental Protection Agency, formed on December 2, had a task worth attacking. “Year of the Environment came to an end on an extremely upbeat note with the signing of a major piece of environmental legislation. The Clean Air Act [[CAA) of 1970 was the perfect bookend to balance the National Environmental Policy Act the President had signed with such a flourish on New Year’s Day,” states the EPA. Along with lead, the EPA was required to lower emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides by 90 percent in only a few years.
1971: President Richard Nixon signed the Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act, which restricted the lead content in paint used in housing built with federal dollars and provided funds for states to reduce the amount of lead in paint. Subsequent legislation created the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which effectively banned leaded paint in 1976.
1984: The U.S. Senate considered banning the use of lead in gasoline, with Vernon Houk, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Center for Environmental Heath, reporting that “if no lead had been allowed in gasoline since 1977, there would have been approximately 80 percent fewer children identified with lead toxicity.”
1985: The EPA discussed a total ban on leaded gasoline by 1988.
1990: In amendments to the Clean Air Act, lead was banned from gasoline. The measures would take effect in 1995, giving gasoline companies five more years to completely phase out lead.
2002: According to a study, levels of lead found in human blood were reduced more than 80 percent from 1976 to 1999 in American children one to five years old, and these children had IQs that were, on average, 2.2-4.7 points higher than comparable groups in the 1970s. In terms of economic impact, the authors estimate that each IQ point raises worker productivity 1.76-2.38 percent. The estimated economic benefit for each year’s newborns ranges from $110 billion to $319 billion.
2008: EPA tightens air emission rules for lead, requiring industries to reduce levels to .15 μg/cubic meter. The new standard is 10 times greater than previous requirements set 30 years ago.

source: http://www.scienceprogress.org/2008/...ad-regulation/

[Jimaz]

Yesterday I went to the hardware store to buy a simple repair clamp for a garden hose. I picked up a sturdy-looking metallic one for a closer look. It said "Made in China." The fine print warned that the brass parts contained lead. Reading further, I discovered that the state of California has determined that this product contains ingredients that are considered carcinogenic [[possibly the non-brass parts?) and that anyone handling the product should wash their hands after contact. It wasn't even packaged in a plastic bag to prevent unwitting contact. That's just great. I was holding something with fine print warning me that it has just contaminated me. [[I did wash my hands.)

How difficult is it to make a simple repair clamp that isn't poisonous? How difficult is it to package it to contain the exposure?

It would seem to me that it would be more difficult to make such a simple thing that is poisonous. WTF is it with this insanity?!

[trstar]

The article about excessive lead in children of Detroit is valid and important to discuss. But the headline indicated that DPS was cause of lead poisoning. It was just the population that was studied.

[Huggybear]

Lead poisoning is often exacerbated by poor nutrition. The body absorbs lead more readily when deprived of other things.

[Corktown Mark]

And the rest of Michigan slowly turns and looks for distractions elsewhere and blames children for the environment they are born into.

[NorthofNormal]

Not trying to rain on anyone's parade but aren't many of these areas also being considered for urban farms? How much of that lead paint made its way into the soil when residents scraped and repainted their homes? If allowable levels of lead and other chemicals are minimal then land use for farming would be fine, but as a potential customer of an urban farm's produce, I'd like to know...

I've asked around about this before, and the answer that I've always been given is that urban farms need to either clear the polluted soil and replace it with clean soil and/or grow in raised beds that are lined with some kind of barrier that isolates the clean soil from the rest of the ground.

[LeadCzar]

Three things:
1. Regarding urban farming; the soil should be tested for lead and other heavy metals and raised beds should be used, however, recent studies by WSU show that the amount of lead absorbed by plants and passed on through consumption is not a likely heath concern. It may be higher for root plants [[e.g. potatoes) than leafy plants, but it's not enough to elevate human blood lead levels.
2. Lead based paint ingestion is still by far the biggest hazard in Detroit, and the Bing administration gets a failing grade on protecting our kids so far. They've ignored the recommendations of the CDC, Michigan Department of Community Health, Detroit Heatlh Department's Medical Director, and the former lead program's Director & Manager, and they do not have the resources [[money & people) to adequately protect our children.
3. Stay up to date on the issue at the Spirit of Detroit Blog and sign the petition to fix Detroit's lead poisoning prevention program.

[GOAT]

No different than all of the "preservatives, flavour enhancers", sodium, sugar they put in all sorts of foods today. Why aren't these banned? How about the low cost of pre-packaged meals compared to fresh fruit and vegetables?
Is it really any wonder why there is such an obesity issue, high blood pressure, diabetes in our population today? That shit should all be banned. Learn how to cook already!

As for the lead in paint....stop eating it. ; ) [[the dust issue is quite moot).

[jiminnm]

You will also find pretty high lead concentrations in soil adjacent to streets from car exhausts.

[Hamtragedy]

The problem with paint chips containing lead is that they are sweet, and to some, downright delicious. Tell that to your 3 year old who's hungry, or the 1 year-olds that put everything in their mouths.

[DetroitDad]

This was a concern for me when considering moving into old buildings in the greater downtown area. In some buildings, you'll notice that families with young children are steered towards certain floors of area high rises, or certain buildings in older apartment complexes [[an observation by a friend who has worked for various old Downtown Detroit high rises for nearly a decade). There may or may not be various reasons for this, but those areas tend to have mitigated problems with lead paint.

In my particular building, scrapings from our apartment did not test with high levels of lead paint. However, I did not test the public areas of my building, some of which have problems with peeling paint, especially on the soaring and ornate ceiling in the lobby and mezzanine. Likewise, some of the carpeting is old, and could easily have lead dust in it, and even though we tested some of the paint, we still take other precautions.

First, from what I have read, lead can accumulate in the brain over time, based on frequency of exposure and the body being deprived of things that help detoxify the body. Furthermore, it is a bigger problem in children under the age of three, as they are in a very sensitive period of brain development.

It is my understanding that vibrations from music or opening and closing windows and doors, wind/drafts, water leaks or spills, and vents leading to other areas of the building can cause tiny chips [[lead filled dust). This dust can be in the air, or could have settled on carpet that a baby may be playing and crawling on, getting on hands that are often put in baby's mouth. Dust can also collect on children's toys or anything that may end up in baby's mouth.

To combat dust in the air, we run air purifiers and have new filters automatically sent to us, and changed regularly. The risk of lead paint in the carpet is mitigated by removing shoes outside of our home, running a HEPA filter vacuum every night, periodic carpet cleaning, and laying play rugs and playpens over the original carpet. Play rugs can be washed regularly. To combat lead paint on toys and furniture, we regularly dust or clean toys, clothing, and bedding. Untested public areas are rarely used.

As to lead paint in schools; to me, part of being a good parent is understanding and evaluating risks to your children. It is up to the parents or guardian to test environment, report problems to the correct party, and to inform the media of known problems that are being neglected.

[wolverine]

When I resigned my lease, I was surprised to see under the hazardous materials category, LEAD PAINT: Not that we are aware of. Well it's a 22 story highrise building constructed in the 1920's, I'm going to guess yes, unless they scraped the walls down to the plaster at some point.

Sort of related, but back in architecture school, people used to use plastic resins and hydraulic cement. Always on the label "Warning, this product is known to cause cancer, avoid dust exposure" Yeah, it's a powdered substance it's going to make dust. And with 120 students using it simultaneously in a studio with fixed windows, there was a nice gray haze.