Lands Council will survey extent of lead poisoning problem in area

Even though the risk of lead poisoning in children has long been known in Spokane, there is very little information on how many children have elevated lead levels in their blood and how high those levels might be.

The Lands Council in Spokane wants to start documenting the problem through a small two-year grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

For the past several years, the Lands Council has been trying to reach low-income families, non-English speaking residents and others about the hazards of lead contamination in the environment. The efforts have stemmed from the agency’s longstanding concern about lead pollution, particularly from mining wastes in the Spokane River.

Kat Hall, environmental health program director at the Lands Council, said she is teaming with health-care providers, neighborhood organizations and community centers to increase the awareness of lead hazards and to screen children for elevated levels of lead in their blood.

“Being able to test kids seemed like the next logical step,” she said.

The $72,000 in funding is just one of five such grants awarded by the EPA in its Region 10 of Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska.

The Lands Council plans to concentrate its efforts in Hillyard and the West Central neighborhoods, both of which have a high percentage of old houses with lead paint and both of which are close to other sources of lead contamination.

Homes built prior to 1950 are considered the most likely places for lead paint contamination, especially if the old paint is allowed to chip and peel. Remediation for lead paint typically involves painting over the old paint to seal the lead beneath a safe coating.

Sediments along the Spokane River are contaminated with lead, and fish taken from the river contain the metal. The Washington Department of Health cautions against eating more than one fish meal a month from the river inside Spokane city limits, and recommends trimming away fatty portions of the fish where lead is concentrated. No fish should be consumed upstream of Upriver Dam.

A former rail yard just east of Hillyard also has contaminated soil with lead and other heavy metals. Lead is frequently found at older industrial sites. It can be tracked into homes on muddy shoes. Dust from contaminated sites may contain lead.

“We’ve learned there’s a lot of lead out there and it’s coming from a lot of places,” Hall said.

Elevated lead in the blood of children six years and younger can lead to anemia, behavioral problems, learning disabilities, brain damage, and in some cases, death.

The EPA grant was used to purchase a blood screening device for on-the-spot screening. Hall said she plans to go out into the community and find children whose parents want them to be screened.

Hall said she hopes to create partnerships in the community to target vulnerable children and reduce their exposure to lead. The Lands Council plans to use computer mapping to identify city neighborhoods most at risk of lead poisoning. A second step is to provide education about the risks and symptoms of lead poisoning and to provide advice on how to reduce or eliminate those risks.

The current plan calls for no individual records to be kept on blood screenings. However, the number of children found to have elevated lead in their blood will be documented. If a child is found with elevated blood, Hall said she will advise parents to seek medical care.

“This project indeed dovetails with the Lands Council’s work over the last decade to clean up the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene watershed from a century of mining and to protect the health of those most affected by exposure to environmental toxins,” Hall said in a prepared statement.

In addition, the Lands Council began working in Hillyard in 2006 to reach out to families and children who may be exposed to lead from industrial and residential sources. That effort was funded through a separate grant from the Group Health Community Foundation.

Staffers for the Lands Council also have been working since 2004 to contact people along the Spokane River and educate them about hazards from sediment and fish. Some of that effort involves bilingual work with Hispanic and Slavic residents.

For more information about the blood testing and outreach programs, contact Kat Hall at 209-2403.