|
 The data shows how lead poisoning affects even a state known for its
environmental advocacy, with high rates of childhood exposure found
in a swath of the Bay Area and downtown Los Angeles. And the figures
show that, despite national strides in eliminating lead-based
products, hazards remain in areas far from the Rust Belt or East
Coast regions filled with old housing and legacy industry.
In one central Fresno zip code, 13.6 percent of blood tests on
children under six years old came back high for lead. That compares
to 5 percent across the city of Flint during its recent water
contamination crisis. In all, Reuters found at least 29 Golden State
neighborhoods where children had elevated lead tests at rates at
least as high as in Flint.
“It’s a widespread problem and we have to get a better idea of where
the sources of exposure are,” said California Assembly member Bill
Quirk, who chairs the state legislature’s Committee on Environmental
Safety and Toxic Materials.
(To see the Reuters interactive map of U.S. lead hotspots, click
here http://reut.rs/2h55POf)
Last week, prompted in part by a December Reuters investigation
pinpointing thousands of lead hotspots across the country, Quirk
introduced a bill that would require blood lead screening for all
California children. Now, just a fraction of the state’s children
are tested.
The newest zip code-level testing data was released by the
California Department of Public Health in response to a longstanding
Reuters records request and adds to a limited set of numbers
previously disclosed by the state. The numbers offer a partial state
snapshot, covering tests conducted during 2012 – the most recent
year for which information was provided – and in about one-fourth of
the state’s more than 2,000 zip code areas.
Unlike other states that provided Reuters with results for all zip
codes or census tracts, California withheld data from zip codes
where fewer than 250 children were screened, calling such results
less reliable. So, the available data – encompassing about 400,000
children tested in 546 zip codes – likely omits many neighborhoods
where lead exposure remains a problem but fewer children were
screened.
California’s Public Health Department said comparisons between the
state’s blood lead testing results and those from other states
aren’t warranted. It said the state tests children deemed at risk
for lead exposure, such as those enrolled in Medicaid or living in
older housing.
HOTSPOT IN FRESNO
“Testing of at-risk children, and not all children, skews California
results to higher percentage of children tested showing lead
exposure,” the state said.
Testing that targets at-risk children is common across much of the
country, however. And, as Reuters reported last year, many at-risk
children in California and other states fall through the cracks of
these programs and go untested.
Blood tests can’t determine the cause of a child’s exposure, but
potential sources include crumbling old paint, contaminated soil,
tainted drinking water or other lead hazards.
In Fresno’s downtown 93701 zip code, nearly 14 percent of children
tested had lead levels at or above 5 micrograms per deciliter of
blood, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s current
threshold for an elevated reading.
No level of lead exposure is safe, but children who test that high
warrant a public health response, the CDC says.
Once common in household paint, gasoline and plumbing, lead is a
neurotoxin that causes irreversible health impacts, including
cognitive impairment and attention disorders in children.
In all, Fresno County had nine zip code areas where high lead levels
among children tested were at least as common as in Flint. The
Reuters article in December documented nearly 3,000 locales
nationwide with poisoning rates double those found in the Michigan
city along the Flint River.
The city of Fresno battles high poverty rates and problems with
substandard housing, both risk factors for lead exposure. Some
locals are also concerned with drinking water, after unsafe levels
of lead were detected in at least 120 Fresno homes last year.
Fresno County’s lead poisoning prevention program conducts outreach
across the city, and a program health educator, Leticia Berber, says
exposure remains too common.
[to top of second column] |
Still, she expressed surprise at the area’s high rate. “We haven’t
looked at it that way compared to Flint,” Berber said.
Eight zip codes in Alameda County, which includes Oakland, had rates
equal to or greater than those found in Flint. Other counties
containing zip codes with high exposure rates included Los Angeles,
Monterrey and Humboldt.
The exposure hotspots remain outliers. Around 2 percent of all
California children tested in 2012 had lead levels at or above the
federal standard, Reuters found.
Yet in the worst-affected zip codes identified statewide, more than
10 percent of children tested had an elevated lead level. In scores
of others, less than 1 percent of children tested high. Three zip
codes reported no high tests in 2012.
BAY AREA PLANS ACTION
In California, home inspections are required when a child's levels
reach 14.5 micrograms per deciliter, the state's formal threshold
for a "lead poisoning case."
State and local health departments provide services, including
educational materials, to some families whose children test at or
above 4.5 micrograms per deciliter. Like other states, including
Michigan, California rounds its blood lead test results up or down
to the nearest whole number. So, a result of 4.5 or higher meets the
CDC threshold.
In its December report, Reuters tracked California lead exposure
rates based on the neighborhood-level data available at the time.
The report showed hotspots such as the Fruitvale neighborhood of
Oakland, where 7.6 percent of children tested high, prompting media
coverage and new initiatives to protect children.
Lead exposure is common in other East Bay areas, including large
parts of Oakland, and nearby Emeryville and Fremont, the new data
shows.
In January, Oakland city council members introduced a resolution
that would require property owners to obtain lead inspections and
safety certifications before renting or selling houses and
apartments built before 1978, when lead paint was banned.
Emeryville's city council this month proposed an ordinance to
require proof that contractors will adhere to Environmental
Protection Agency standards – including safe lead paint removal
practices – before they renovate older housing.
Emeryville Vice Mayor John Bauters said paint exposure isn’t the
only risk. A long history of heavy industry in the East Bay also
left contaminated soil in some areas.
In the Los Angeles area, the prevalence of high blood lead tests
reached 5 percent or above in at least four zip codes during 2012.
Since August, a sampling of children tested from the Los Angeles
neighborhoods of Westlake, Koreatown and Pico Union revealed about 5
percent with high lead results, said Jeff Sanchez, a public health
specialist at Impact Assessment, which helps Los Angeles run its
lead poisoning prevention program.
“The more you look,” Sanchez said, “the more you find.”
(Reporting By Joshua Schneyer and M.B. Pell. Editing by Ronnie
Greene.)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
