"Children are poisoned by putting lead objects in their mouths or from touching a dusty or peeling lead object and then putting their fingers in their mouths. Dust containing lead can also be inhaled. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a level of 400 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil is considered safe. However, according to studies by Howard Mielke, Xavier University professor of toxicology, the median level of contamination in New Orleans prior to Katrina was about 1,000 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil, nearly three times the EPA standard." http://www.allbusiness.com/north-america/united-states-louisiana/1101357-1.html
ASARCO's own Hydrometrics-report-map shows one place at the site where Lead is 19,000 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil. Near the Historic Smelter cemetery the map shows Lead values that are over 12,000 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil.
If 1000 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil is "nearly three times the EPA standard" then what is 12,000 or 19,000?? How about-- 36 and 57 times the EPA standard for residential -- and this dust is picked up in every dust storm and distributed around the City...
And what about Polonium (Radioactive Lead?). It is *very* commonly found around smelters and we have never been told what its levels are, here.
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