Lead
Along with petrochemicals, pesticides, bacteria and other contaminants, Texas Tech’s researchers found high levels of lead in two sediment samples during their investigation.
One site by an industrial canal, where much of the city’s drainage water converges, had 65 percent more lead than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s High Priority Bright Line Screening Levels. This screening level gives a site high priority for hazardous materials cleanup.
Chief researcher Steve Presley said the two samples offer a small window into what contaminants have stayed behind in the sediment and soil. However, the findings suggest that high levels of lead could be found in other parts of the city.
It could take 10 years before scientists can draw a full map of contaminant levels in New Orleans, he said.
Thanks to legislations that minimized or eliminated using the heavy metal in consumer products and on work sites, lead poisoning has decreased by 86 percent since the late 1970s, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
However, because many older homes still contain lead-based paint, lead poisoning from old paint remains the most common way for children to ingest the metal.
Lead poisoning can affect IQ scores in children and can cause blood pressure, memory and fertility problems as well as nervous disorders and muscle and joint pain in adults.
To learn more about the health effects of lead exposure, visit the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website at www.cdc.gov/lead. 