Los Angeles Times Profiles Missouri Town Where Smelter Exposes Children to High Levels of Lead
The Los Angeles Times today profiles the town of Herculaneum, Mo., where the presence of the "nation's largest lead smelter" has exposed residents to significantly high levels of lead. Located 30 miles south of St. Louis, Herculaneum has been home to the smelter operated by the Doe Run Co. for more than a hundred years. The smelter has coated the entire town with lead dust, which for years residents "brushed off as a nuisance" but learned last month "may have poisoned their homes, their playgrounds -- and their children." The typical lead level in Missouri soil is 200 parts per million, and anything above 400 parts per million the federal government considers unsafe. Some streets in Herculaneum have registered a lead level of 300,000 parts per million. Doe Run has conducted "several community health screenings," and the most recent one found that 15% of children under age six in Herculaneum had excessive levels of lead in their blood. The side effects that can result from lead poisoning range from "stomachaches to learning disabilities to stunted intelligence." The prevalence of the condition in children has led to a name for them -- "leaded" -- and many parents now do not let their children play outside of their homes.
No 'Good Answer'
Despite the lead problem, the Times reports that Doe Run has been receptive to health and safety concerns over the years, as it has "complied with every directive" from government agencies. The company moved to lower sulfur dioxide emissions when residents complained, and has cut its lead emissions from 850 tons a year in 1980 to about 60 tons a year today. Regulators, the Times reports, "never thought to request a study of the environmental and health effects" of the lead, and only did so recently after "finding contamination in a nearby creek." Now Doe Run has agreed to $15 million in retrofitting to lower emissions further. Tony Petruska, project manager for the Environmental Protection Agency, said, "I would love to say we were out doing [testing] 20 years ago, but we obviously weren't. If you're asking why, I don't have a good answer" (Simon, Los Angeles Times, 10/9).
