Lead In Our Soil
Lead is a naturally occurring element present in small amounts in the Earth’s crust. It has historically been used in many consumer products including gasoline, paint, plumbing materials, batteries, and cosmetics. This makes lead common all around us. While people may be familiar with the potential to be exposed to lead from the paint or plumbing in their homes, less widely known is that people can be exposed to lead from the soil around their home as well.
While lead is found in small amounts in all soil, some industrial activities can contaminate the surrounding soil with dangerous amounts of lead. For example, facilities that use, process, manufacture, or store materials that contain lead may emit lead into the air, which then settles in the soil. They may also have leaks from storage or waste containers that deposit lead directly into the soil. Facilities like these include refineries, metal plating facilities, and battery recycling facilities.
Airplanes also contaminate soil with lead. The most common jet fuels contain lead, and when planes use that fuel, they emit lead into the air, which settles in the soil. Residential areas near airports, busy flight paths, or Air Force bases have been found to have high levels of lead in their soil.
When there are high levels of lead in soil, it is easy for people to be exposed to it. One way is by touching your hands to your mouth after touching the soil. Children are particularly prone to this, as they often put their hands in their mouths when playing outside or after touching toys that have been left outside. Adults do this as well, often after landscaping, gardening, or playing with pets. Another way people are exposed to lead in soil is through eating fruits or vegetables grown in contaminated soil.
When people are exposed to lead, it can disrupt most organs by interfering with the function of our cells. It can lead to reproductive dysfunction, kidney failure, and heart problems. Lead exposure is particularly damaging to the brain, causing defects in learning and memory. Children are especially vulnerable to the impacts of lead exposure because of their growing brains, and exposure can cause defects in brain development, behavioral problems, hearing and vision loss, and irreversible learning disabilities. Even though it’s been known for over two hundred years that lead is toxic, it is estimated that 800 million children worldwide are exposed to lead today.
Because of the devastating - sometimes irreversible - impacts of lead exposure, the government should more tightly regulate the industries that contaminate the soil with lead. While pushing for these policy changes, there are also individual actions people can take to keep their families safe from lead in their soil. If you live near an airport or industrial facility that uses lead, you should:
Wash your hands: wash your hands and your children’s hands frequently, especially before preparing food or eating.
Clean surfaces: clean your floors, windows, and toys to remove lead dust and lead soil. Use a wet mop or a vacuum cleaner with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter if possible.
Clean your shoes: before you enter your house, remove your shoes or wipe soil off of them to avoid bringing contaminated soil into your house.
Wash your fruits and vegetables: thoroughly wash the soil from homegrown fruits and vegetables. Peel the skin off of root crops like potatoes and carrots.
Avoid eggs from backyard chickens: if you keep chickens in your yard, they can ingest lead from contaminated soil, and that lead can end up in their eggs.
Applying these recommendations to your daily life can be time-consuming, burdensome, and scary. They can be a first step in protecting your family from lead exposure, but families shouldn’t have to take on these individual actions in order to live safely. State and federal governments should take action to protect public health so that all communities can rest assured that their soil is free of toxic chemicals like lead.
