Resurgent lead poisoning and renewed public attention towards environmental social justice issues: A review of current efforts and call to revitalize primary and secondary lead poisoning prevention for pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children within the U.S.

ABSTRACT

The recent Colorado Gold King Mine waste-water spill and Michigan’s water supply re-routing program catastrophe, has directed renewed public attention towards resurgent environmental lead contamination threats. Leaded environments present social justice issues for children and mothers possessing blood lead levels (BLLs) > 5 μg/dL. Childhood lead exposure remains a continual U.S. public health problem manifesting in lifelong adverse neuropsychological consequences. The 2007 Inspector General Report demonstrated low BLL screening rates across the U.S. and this study examined the regularity of children’s BLL screening rates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Lead Poisoning National Surveillance 2010–2014 children’s BLL screening rates, were examined to assess BLL screening regularity in states traditionally known to have regularly occurring BLL screenings: New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The results extracted from the CDC data showed that < 50% of children were BLL screened by six-years of age across the states that were sampled. The findings highlight that without a “clear map” of lead exposed areas through accurate and consistent BLL screenings, how the potential for such disparities within – and between-states within the U.S. could arise due to environmental social justice issues in relation to BLL screening barriers. Barriers preventing children’s BLL screenings were considered, and public health interventions recommended to improve screening rates included: routine BLL screening for all pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children; while, removing known lead exposure sources within communities. This study calls for action during a time of renewed public attention to resurgent lead poisoning within the U.S.

KEYWORDS:

• Blood lead levels
• lead poisoning
• environmental social justice
• lead prevention
• children
• pregnant women
• lactating mothers
• public health

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Dr. Sarah A. Smith from SUNY Old Westbury’s Department of Public Health and Health Disparities Institute for their helpful comments, insights, and suggestions to earlier versions of this manuscript, as without their input this publication would not have been possible. The author would also like to thank our anonymous reviewers for their instructive comments and feedback on this publication. A final acknowledgement is most deserved to highlight the many seminal papers and scientific contributions to the public’s understanding of childhood lead poisoning by Claire C. Patterson, Herbert L. Needleman, and the late John F. Rosen.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by SUNY Old Westbury’s Faculty Development Grant awarded to LSN.