Asarco Lead (Pb) source - confounds... again.

Dr. Pingitore awarded 2009 N.I.H. grant for almost one million dollars (Total 2009 Funding: $921,489 ) and $943,726 in 2008!!
http://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?aid=7668724

This local activist is confounded by the N.I.H. awarding such monies to researcher(s) who themselves admitted "various factors confound [their] ability to distinguish the relative contributions of Pb from the smelter point source and from the local area sources."

"Asarco spokespersons deny their company is responsible for the contamination in adjacent zones... Their argument received some support in a 2004 paper ...Authored by Dr. Nicholas Pingitore, Dr. Maria Amaya and others...cited other reasons the core area near Asarco could be laden with high amounts of lead, including the prior use of unleaded gasoline and old, vintage homes brightened with lead paint. According to Pingitore and associates, the various factors “" >confound one’s ability"> to distinguish the relative contributions of Pb from the smelter point source and from the local areal sources.”"">Frontera NorteSur June-August 2005 "The Battle of Asarco"

"Andrea, I know the work that has been done by Dr. Pingitore has been absolutely valid, and his approaches well justified." (quote from Dr. Amaya, email from Varnell to Eliot Shapleigh 2/23/2004 4:33 PM on Blood Lead Levels). Dr. Amaya now does research with Dr. Pingitore....

“In terms of actual concentration, lead paint chips and lead paint dust from these older homes are the biggest source of lead pollution in the community,” Johnson [previous Asarco El Paso environmental Manager] said, citing three studies, the latest an independent examination by UTEP geochemistry Prof. Nicholas Pingitore – also a Kern Place resident......Pingitore also takes issue with an EPA study that showed there is a lot of lead sulfide in the soil. It’s a substance one might normally assume came out of the smokestacks. “We don’t seem to find it,” Pingitore said of his own studies. ...." (from 20060128 el paso inc)