Lead is not Safe
“Lead Isn’t Safe for Anyone!”
por Rob English
The presence of lead in the Central New York’s human environment remains a very serious problem for everyone, especially children. Several governmental initiatives are under way to abate the danger but these will take time so it’s incumbent upon all of us to protect ourselves. Fortunately, there are many things we can do.
This brief, excellent video covers several steps you can take to protect your family from lead, whether it comes from chipping paint, your tap water, tracking it in on your shoes, finding it in your spice rack, or other sources:
Lead Safety in Your Home [English] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypZa-WuA6To
Seguridad del plomo en su hogar [Spanish] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkhy8n_ZCeQ
This map purports to indicate whether you have lead in the water line entering your Syracuse home:
Lead service line in your home?
https://data.syrgov.net/pages/lead
As part of an initiative by the City of Syracuse, crews will examine some homes with x-ray equipment in search of lead.
Even very low levels of lead exposure decrease cognitive function, increase neurological and joint pain, reduce sperm count, increase chances of miscarriage, harm fetal development, decrease kidney function and raise blood pressure and chances of heart attack or stroke.
(NYS DOH Adult Lead Poisoning Prevention www.health.ny.gov/environmental/lead/adult_groups.htm).
For children, even low levels of lead in blood can affect their health including reduced growth indicators, delayed puberty, lowered IQ, and hyperactivity, attention, behavior, and learning problems according to the NYS DOH4 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Health Effects of Lead Exposure: www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/prevention/health-effects.htm)
In addition to the ideas found in the video above, I would recommend avoiding eating gun-shot venison or other animals killed by hunters. Although some hunters give away venison after they kill a deer, lead from the bullets disperses into the meat and be consumed. From the New York State Department of Conservation: “Lead fragments left behind after a big game animal is harvested can remain in the meat” and in other tissues of the killed deer. https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/leadammunitionreport2022.pdf
At this writing several governmental and community organization initiatives are under way to address the danger of lead in Central New York. For more information, check out these web sites:
https://www.leadsafecny.org/what-were-doing.html
https://www.syracuse.com/news/2022/05/syracuse-to-spend-45-million-to-fight-lead-poisoning-in-city-144-homes.html
http://www.ongov.net/health/lead/
http://www.syrgov.net/lead/
Rob English is a member of People for Animal Rights, a grassroots organization in Central New York.
Contact People for Animal Rights
P.O. Box 3333
Syracuse, NY 13220
(315) 708-4520
peopleforanimalrightsofcny@gmail.com
https://parcny.org/
