Indianapolis. dark red areas show blood lead levels in children over 20 m g / dL, the pink areas above 10 m g / dL. colored spots indicate soil levels
DENVER -. There are over 2 decades, the United States began to eliminate lead additives in gasoline and paint. But new research suggests that many children living in large cities are still at risk of lingering lead in soil. Study finds contaminated soil in Indianapolis is correlated with elevated blood lead levels in children, and other cities are likely to have similar problems.
In the 1970s lead poisoning has been identified as a serious threat to children, causing disorder behaviors, permanent drop in IQ, paralysis and even death. Children are more vulnerable because, before the age of six, they absorb about 80% of all the lead they ingest, while adults absorb about 15%. These revelations have spurred legislation to reduce lead exposure, but an important source of lead may have been overlooked, said geochemist Gabriel Filippelli at Indiana University-Purdue Indianapolis (IUPUI).
Filippelli and graduate student Mark Laidlaw tested some 100 samples of surface soil of the world Indianapolis and found that high levels of lead were omnipresent. Lead in the soil is left on auto emissions before unleaded gasoline was said Filippelli. Not surprisingly, the levels are higher near busy roads, but water and wind have spread more slowly. He then compared the levels of soil with lead levels in the blood recordings in children of public health. "There is a halo of high levels of lead around the city, and is linked particularly to the lead levels in the blood of children," he said. Filippelli reported the results of his study this week at the meeting of the Geological Society of America.
lead risks in the soil have been neglected, said Filippelli. The children come into contact with lead in playgrounds and even their own backyards, and follow in their homes, he said. This could explain why high levels of lead in the blood have been found in children living in brick houses, which tend to have some paint, and do not play near roads.
"We thought we had solved the problem when we took the lead in gasoline," said environmental toxicologist Howard Mielke of Xavier University in New Orleans, which found lead levels Similar to other cities. "The good news is the problem is solvable," he said. The new study found that 95% of the lead was in the top 13 centimeters of soil to remove the top layer of soil in areas where children play would go a long way toward reducing exposure.
Related Sites
IUPUI lab biogeochemistry
information on lead poisoning, the National Library of Medicine
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