Lead Poisoning
Although the City of St. Louis started prioritizing childhood lead poisoning in the early 1970s, and various programs and funding commitments have come and gone in the nearly 50 years since,¹ this preventable yet devastating problem persists today.²
It harms predominantly the City’s black children, who are 2.4 times more likely than white children to test positive for lead in their blood and accounted for more than 70% of children found to suffer from lead poisoning in 2016.³ As shown in Figure 1.1 below, four of the five wards with the highest childhood lead poisoning rates in 2017 were majority-black (Wards 1, 4, 20, and 21), compared to just one of the six wards with the lowest childhood lead poisoning rates (Ward 19).
FIGURE 1.1. CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING RATES BY WARD, 2017⁴
Compounding these racial disparities is the fact that the City of St. Louis as a whole suffers disproportionately from childhood lead poisoning.⁵ Children in the City are twice as likely to have lead poisoning as children statewide in Missouri.⁶
One factor contributing to the City’s high levels of childhood lead poisoning is the fact that nearly 90% of the City’s homes were built before 1980⁷ and therefore likely contain lead paint because lead paint was not banned for use in housing until 1978.⁸ By contrast, just over half of the homes in Missouri—and nationwide—were built before 1980.⁹
However, housing age does not explain the racial disparities in childhood lead poisoning in St. Louis. As Figure 1.2 shows, in several wards in South St. Louis which have a very high percentage of pre-1980 homes and are majority-white, childhood lead poisoning rates are very low compared to Wards in other areas that also have a high percentage of pre-1980 homes but are majority-black. For example, even though they have similar percentages of pre-1980 homes, in 2017 less than 2% of children tested in majority-white Wards 10, 16, 23, and 24 were lead poisoned compared to over 10% of the children tested in majority-black Wards 1, 4, 20, and 21.¹⁰ Therefore, although building age is a factor in childhood lead poisoning rates, factors such as inadequate building maintenance and other underlying unsafe housing conditions likely contribute to lead exposure disparities in St. Louis.¹¹
FIGURE 1.2. PERCENTAGE OF HOMES BUILT BEFORE 1980 AND CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING RATES BY WARD, 2017¹²
In addition, as Figure 1.3 shows, the areas with the highest childhood lead poisoning rates are also typically areas where a sizeable portion of the population is living below the federal poverty level. These areas, too, tend to be majority-black.¹³ As the City’s Health Department stated in its most recent lead poisoning report, “lead poisoning has been occurring much longer and the rates continue to be higher in the northern section of the city and southern along highway 55.”¹⁵ The prevalence of lead poisoning in black children, with its lifelong injuries, reflects long-term and ongoing racial discrimination that results in less opportunity for home ownership, greater poverty, and greater concentration of blacks in areas with poor housing conditions and landlords who fail or refuse to abate lead hazards.¹⁶
FIGURE 1.3. PERCENTAGE OF RESIDENTS LIVING IN POVERTY AND CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING RATES BY WARD, 2017¹⁴
“Some Americans face a ‘triple whammy’ of increased risk based on poverty, race, and place. Evidence dating back to the 1970s has shown that lead poisoning rates are higher in inner cities and low-income and minority neighborhoods than in white, affluent, and suburban neighborhoods. … [G] overnment-supported suburban development and racial segregation after World War II contributed to lead poisoning by concentrating minority families in substandard urban housing. … [D]iscriminatory government policies effectively excluded minority families from buying homes in suburban neighborhoods, leaving them trapped in cities, where a vicious cycle of deterioration and disinvestment exacerbated lead hazards.”¹⁷
The Dangers of Lead Poisoning
There is no safe level of exposure to lead,¹⁸ and it is especially harmful to children.¹⁹ Childhood lead poisoning can cause permanent damage to the brain and nervous system, make it more difficult to learn and pay attention, and slow a child’s growth and development.²⁰ Lead poisoning can also cause learning disabilities, behavioral and emotional problems, and aggression, resulting in increased school drop-out rates, suspensions, and delinquency as well as criminal activity and violence.²¹ Children are most likely to get lead poisoning when lead from household paint gets into household dust, the dust gets on children’s hands, toys, or other objects, and children place those things in their mouths.²² Because lead poisoning has no obvious symptoms, a blood test is needed to determine whether a child is suffering from lead poisoning.²³
Kaliah West: A Mother’s Unwanted Discovery
Ms. Kaliah West is a current resident of University City, where she lives with her daughter and uncle. From 1 to 2 years of age, Kaliah’s daughter resided in North City with her grandmother while Kaliah was incarcerated. During that time, her daughter suffered from lead exposure, something Kaliah did not discover until her release. Five years have passed since the exposure to dangerous conditions in the grandmother’s home, and her daughter’s blood lead levels have returned to normal. Kaliah reports that her daughter still experiences behavioral issues, a common side effect of lead exposure.
References
¹ William L. Kincaid, Short History of Lead Poisoning in St. Louis, MO: Partnering to Shift into Primary Prevention (Oct. 2006), available at https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/ACCLPP/October2006/ Attachment%201%20-%20Kincaid%20-%20LeadHistoryOct%202006final.pdf; Lead Safe St. Louis Data, available at https://www.mayorslay.com/sites/default/files//campaign/lit/ LeadSafeStLouissummary1212.pdf; 2017 Lead Safe St. Louis Documentary Part 1: Lead Safe Children, available at https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/health/media/stl-tvlead-safe.cfm
² City of St. Louis Department of Health, Childhood Lead Poisoning in St. Louis City (2018), p. 1, available at https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/health/documents/upload/2018- Lead-Poisoning-Report-8-15-18-1-3.pdf (“2018 Childhood Lead Poisoning in St. Louis City”). When this report refers to “childhood lead poisoning” or “elevated blood lead levels,” it means 5 micrograms per deciliter or above, unless the previous level of 10 micrograms per deciliter is specifically noted. In 2012, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lowered its measure for elevated blood lead level from 10 to 5 micrograms per deciliter. See CDC, Blood Lead Levels in Children, available at https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/acclpp/lead_levels_in_children_fact_sheet.pdf.
³ 2018 Childhood Lead Poisoning in St. Louis City, p. 12
⁴ Prepared by the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic. Data Sources: 2018 Childhood Lead Poisoning in St. Louis City, p. 9; City of St. Louis, Census Results (2010), Ward Results (2011 Boundaries), available at http://dynamic.stlouis-mo.gov/census/ward11.cfm.
⁵ 2018 Childhood Lead Poisoning in St. Louis City, p. 1.
⁶ For the period July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017, 3.53% of Missouri children who were tested had blood lead levels at or above 5 micrograms per deciliter, compared with 7.19% of St. Louis City children. Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Missouri Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2017, p. 10, available at https://health.mo.gov/living/environment/lead/pdf/annual-report-fy2017.pdf.
⁷ 2018 Childhood Lead Poisoning in St. Louis City, p. 13.
⁸ CDC, Lead Prevention Tips, available at https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tips.htm
⁹ 2018 Childhood Lead Poisoning in St. Louis, p. 13.
¹⁰ Id., p. 9.
¹¹ Id., p. 14.
¹² Id., p. 13.
¹³ See Figure 1.1
¹⁴ 2018 Childhood Lead Poisoning in St. Louis, p. 17.
¹⁵ 2018 Childhood Lead Poisoning in St. Louis, p. 15.
¹⁶ Id., pp. 12, 14. See also the next endnote below
¹⁷ Leif Fredrickson, The surprising link between postwar suburban development and today’s inner-city lead poisoning, The Conversation (Feb. 25, 2016), available at https://theconversation.com/the-surprising-link-between-postwar-suburban-development-and-todays-inner-city-lead-poisoning-54453.
¹⁸ CDC, Lead, available at https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/default.htm.
¹⁹ World Health Organization (WHO), Lead Poisoning and Health, available at https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health.
²⁰ CDC, Lead Poisoning: Know the Facts, available at https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tools/know_the_facts.pdf.
²¹ Equity Indicators Report, p. 39; National Institutes of Health, Lead in kids’ blood linked with behavioral and emotional problems (June 30, 2014), available at https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/lead-kids-blood-linked-behavioral-emotional-problems; Lead Safe Illinois, Lead Poisoning, Behavior Problems, and Violence, available at http://www.leadsafeillinois.org/uploads/documents/FactSheetDelinquencyandCriminalBehavor.pdf.
²² CDC, Lead Poisoning: Know the Facts, available at https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tools/know_the_facts.pdf.
²³ Id.