13 ms·

Black children had an adjusted 0.73 to 1.41 µg/dL more blood Pb (p < 0.001 respectively) and a 1.8 to 5.6 times higher odds of having an EBLL ≥5 µg/dL (p ≤ 0.05

Black children had an adjusted 0.73 to 1.41 µg/dL more blood Pb (p < 0.001 respectively) and a 1.8 to 5.6 times higher odds of having an EBLL ≥5 µg/dL (p ≤ 0.05 respectively) for every selected risk factor that was tested. For Black children nationwide, one in four residing in pre-1950 housing and one in six living in poverty presented with an EBLL ≥5 µg/dL. In conclusion, significant nationwide racial disparity in blood Pb outcomes persist for predominantly African-American Black children even after correcting for risk factors and other variables. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7084658/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7084658/

fkfkno 5y ago
This recent case seems to correlate closely with that research: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-55330945 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-55330945 (Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah: Air pollution a factor in girl's death, inquest finds) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/16/girls-death-contributed-to-by-air-pollution-coroner-rules-in-landmark-case https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/16/girls-de...
kukx 5y ago
Is it certain that the Pb causes the lower IQ or maybe there is some other factor and poorer people happen to have higher concentration?
- LordDragonfang 5y ago
  It's been pretty well accepted for decades that this is the case: >A highly significant association was found between lead exposure and children's IQ (P < 0.001)... There was no evidence that the effect was limited to disadvantaged children and there was a suggestion of the opposite. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8162884/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8162884/ That's a 1994 meta-study that turned up in 30 seconds of googling, and I'm sure more recent evidence also exists.
- raegis 5y ago
  It one of the most impactful studies on how lead affects intellectual development, the researcher (who is white) restricted the study to white people only because he assumed (correctly) his results would be ignored if he included African Americans who are disproportionately affected by lead poisoning.
  - trophycase 5y ago
    How can you assume correctly if you aren't even testing that assumption?
    - treeman79 5y ago
      It’s politically toxic to try and commission a study on the intelligence of one race/gender versus another.
      - Romanulus 5y ago
oh_sigh 5y ago
I'm surprised they don't control for(or even mention!) fruit juice consumption, which can end up bioaccumulating dangerous amounts of lead and other heavy metals at a surprisingly low daily intake ([0] ~4oz of juice per day). I also very rarely see anyone talking about this source of lead intake - usually it is focused on water pipes or paint chips. Do black children drink more fruit juice than non-black children? If fruit juice consumption is anything like soda consumption(which I suspect it is, but have no proof), then the answer is yes[1]: > With whites as the reference group, the odds of consuming soda was 3.1 times higher for U.S.-born blacks (95% CI 2.6–3.7), 2.4 times higher for Puerto Ricans (95% CI 1.9–3.0), and 2.9 times higher for Mexican/Mexican-Americans (95% CI 2.0–4.1). Those living in households with income less than 200% of the federal poverty level were more likely (odds ratio [OR] = 1.7, 95% CI 1.4–2.1) to be frequent soda consumers than those in households earning 600% or more of the poverty level. [0] https://www.consumerreports.org/food-safety/arsenic-and-lead-are-in-your-fruit-juice-what-you-need-to-know/ https://www.consumerreports.org/food-safety/arsenic-and-lead... [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2329746 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2329746
- jounker 5y ago
  Based on my experience growing up poor, fruit juice was always more expensive than soda. If you’re living in shitty housing you’re probably not drinking much juice.
  - oh_sigh 5y ago
    The question isn't choosing between fruit juice or soda, it is rather whether parents might be more likely to give their kids fruit juice to placate them, or because they mistakenly think "fruit = healthy". Cursory research shows that might be the case(regarding lower income consuming more fruit juice): > By contrast, the highest 100% juice consumption was found among children, racial/ethnic minorities and lower-income groups. https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-14-3 https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2...
    - autoexec 5y ago
tyjen 5y ago
Learned about this phenomenon when considering buying a home built prior to 1978. The highest blood lead levels are seen in children living in denser population areas at or below poverty thresholds. Homes in these largely urban, low-income areas are disproportionately built before 1978 and subject inhabiting children to a significantly higher lead exposure risk. In 2014, it was estimated that 90 percent of all DC homes were built before 1978. Despite Baltimore leading the charge to inform the public concerning the risks of environmental exposure to lead by banning lead-based paint (but not plumbing or other construction products) in 1951 following a clinical study from Johns Hopkins University, many Baltimoreans, primarily Black, continue to face excessive exposure to lead. The US would not follow Baltimore's example and ban lead-based paint until 1978, because lead lobbyists continued to disrupt regulation efforts. Lead remediation is an expensive process and even with programs that help or completely cover the costs, many people may not be aware of the programs to take advantage of them. You can start to see why the problem disproportionately impacts the Black population.
- breakyerself 5y ago
  Yes because the reason they they are prodominantly represented in those neighborhoods just because they were redlined there as a matter of public policy for decades
  - vmception 5y ago
    Yes, even if redlining wasn't occurring and allowed for access to credit so they could lever up on a mortgage in nicer, newer neighborhoods, that would simply 1) alter representation in poorer neighborhoods, as in, black people wouldn't be so heavily represented, but then you would still have the problem of somebody being exposed to lead paint and apathetic landlords 2) the additional demand would wind up pushing people to the bad neighborhoods anyway, some part of me thinks getting right back to square one, but there are a ton of variables there. (Like maybe the higher prices would have incentivized more developers, or even the landlords of bad buildings to renovate) the outcome that has occurred is still messed up. a lot of race based discrimination in the US against black people has had an economic rationalizing, I wonder if the increased pricing was a factor, alongside more clear cut segregationist idea.
hammock 5y ago
From the study: >examined risk factors; survey years; binary gender; bodyweight; low birthweight; anemia; health insurance coverage; Medicaid/CHIP enrollment; federal Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) supplemental food program enrollment; use of water treatment devices; b age in months; c educational attainment less than 9th grade education; d housing built before 1960 or 1940; e number of cigarettes smoked inside the home per day (1 to 40 or more); f poverty-to-income ratios I don't see traffic proximity aka urbanicity aka leaded gasoline particulate pollution in there. Lead plumbing and lead paint are two factors. But there is lead all through the soil and air as well.
- cmrdporcupine 5y ago
  Yeah don't even start to read up on lead arsenate sprays in apple orchards through most of the 20th century. That will keep you at night up for a long time when you start to think about it.
  - rightbyte 5y ago
    My great grandfather used mercury to protect seeds from mold for sowing. The running joke was that it made the hen crazy ...
    - hammock 5y ago
      Mercury is still used today in Australia. https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article/9/1/053/116413/When-toxic-chemicals-refuse-to-die-An-examination https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article/9/1/053/116413/W...
  - hammock 5y ago
    I came across "Poisons in your food" by Ruth Winter in my high school library one day and haven't slept since.
wtinasky 5y ago
golemiprague 5y ago

fkfkno 5y ago

This recent case seems to correlate closely with that research: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-55330945 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-55330945 (Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah: Air pollution a factor in girl's death, inquest finds) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/16/girls-death-contributed-to-by-air-pollution-coroner-rules-in-landmark-case https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/16/girls-de...

kukx 5y ago

Is it certain that the Pb causes the lower IQ or maybe there is some other factor and poorer people happen to have higher concentration?

LordDragonfang 5y ago
It's been pretty well accepted for decades that this is the case: >A highly significant association was found between lead exposure and children's IQ (P < 0.001)... There was no evidence that the effect was limited to disadvantaged children and there was a suggestion of the opposite. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8162884/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8162884/ That's a 1994 meta-study that turned up in 30 seconds of googling, and I'm sure more recent evidence also exists.
raegis 5y ago
It one of the most impactful studies on how lead affects intellectual development, the researcher (who is white) restricted the study to white people only because he assumed (correctly) his results would be ignored if he included African Americans who are disproportionately affected by lead poisoning.
- trophycase 5y ago
  How can you assume correctly if you aren't even testing that assumption?
  - treeman79 5y ago
    It’s politically toxic to try and commission a study on the intelligence of one race/gender versus another.
    - Romanulus 5y ago

oh_sigh 5y ago

I'm surprised they don't control for(or even mention!) fruit juice consumption, which can end up bioaccumulating dangerous amounts of lead and other heavy metals at a surprisingly low daily intake ([0] ~4oz of juice per day). I also very rarely see anyone talking about this source of lead intake - usually it is focused on water pipes or paint chips. Do black children drink more fruit juice than non-black children? If fruit juice consumption is anything like soda consumption(which I suspect it is, but have no proof), then the answer is yes[1]: > With whites as the reference group, the odds of consuming soda was 3.1 times higher for U.S.-born blacks (95% CI 2.6–3.7), 2.4 times higher for Puerto Ricans (95% CI 1.9–3.0), and 2.9 times higher for Mexican/Mexican-Americans (95% CI 2.0–4.1). Those living in households with income less than 200% of the federal poverty level were more likely (odds ratio [OR] = 1.7, 95% CI 1.4–2.1) to be frequent soda consumers than those in households earning 600% or more of the poverty level. [0] https://www.consumerreports.org/food-safety/arsenic-and-lead-are-in-your-fruit-juice-what-you-need-to-know/ https://www.consumerreports.org/food-safety/arsenic-and-lead... [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2329746 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2329746

jounker 5y ago
Based on my experience growing up poor, fruit juice was always more expensive than soda. If you’re living in shitty housing you’re probably not drinking much juice.
- oh_sigh 5y ago
  The question isn't choosing between fruit juice or soda, it is rather whether parents might be more likely to give their kids fruit juice to placate them, or because they mistakenly think "fruit = healthy". Cursory research shows that might be the case(regarding lower income consuming more fruit juice): > By contrast, the highest 100% juice consumption was found among children, racial/ethnic minorities and lower-income groups. https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-14-3 https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2...
  - autoexec 5y ago

tyjen 5y ago

Learned about this phenomenon when considering buying a home built prior to 1978. The highest blood lead levels are seen in children living in denser population areas at or below poverty thresholds. Homes in these largely urban, low-income areas are disproportionately built before 1978 and subject inhabiting children to a significantly higher lead exposure risk. In 2014, it was estimated that 90 percent of all DC homes were built before 1978. Despite Baltimore leading the charge to inform the public concerning the risks of environmental exposure to lead by banning lead-based paint (but not plumbing or other construction products) in 1951 following a clinical study from Johns Hopkins University, many Baltimoreans, primarily Black, continue to face excessive exposure to lead. The US would not follow Baltimore's example and ban lead-based paint until 1978, because lead lobbyists continued to disrupt regulation efforts. Lead remediation is an expensive process and even with programs that help or completely cover the costs, many people may not be aware of the programs to take advantage of them. You can start to see why the problem disproportionately impacts the Black population.

breakyerself 5y ago
Yes because the reason they they are prodominantly represented in those neighborhoods just because they were redlined there as a matter of public policy for decades
- vmception 5y ago
  Yes, even if redlining wasn't occurring and allowed for access to credit so they could lever up on a mortgage in nicer, newer neighborhoods, that would simply 1) alter representation in poorer neighborhoods, as in, black people wouldn't be so heavily represented, but then you would still have the problem of somebody being exposed to lead paint and apathetic landlords 2) the additional demand would wind up pushing people to the bad neighborhoods anyway, some part of me thinks getting right back to square one, but there are a ton of variables there. (Like maybe the higher prices would have incentivized more developers, or even the landlords of bad buildings to renovate) the outcome that has occurred is still messed up. a lot of race based discrimination in the US against black people has had an economic rationalizing, I wonder if the increased pricing was a factor, alongside more clear cut segregationist idea.

hammock 5y ago

From the study: >examined risk factors; survey years; binary gender; bodyweight; low birthweight; anemia; health insurance coverage; Medicaid/CHIP enrollment; federal Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) supplemental food program enrollment; use of water treatment devices; b age in months; c educational attainment less than 9th grade education; d housing built before 1960 or 1940; e number of cigarettes smoked inside the home per day (1 to 40 or more); f poverty-to-income ratios I don't see traffic proximity aka urbanicity aka leaded gasoline particulate pollution in there. Lead plumbing and lead paint are two factors. But there is lead all through the soil and air as well.

cmrdporcupine 5y ago
Yeah don't even start to read up on lead arsenate sprays in apple orchards through most of the 20th century. That will keep you at night up for a long time when you start to think about it.
- rightbyte 5y ago
  My great grandfather used mercury to protect seeds from mold for sowing. The running joke was that it made the hen crazy ...
  - hammock 5y ago
    Mercury is still used today in Australia. https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article/9/1/053/116413/When-toxic-chemicals-refuse-to-die-An-examination https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article/9/1/053/116413/W...
- hammock 5y ago
  I came across "Poisons in your food" by Ruth Winter in my high school library one day and haven't slept since.

wtinasky 5y ago

golemiprague 5y ago