Curtailing lead aerosols: Effects of primary lead prevention on soil lead, pediatric exposures, and community health.

Main Article Content

Howard W. Mielke Christopher R. Gonzales Eric T. Powell

Abstract

Five decades after the US approval of the commercial use of leaded petrol, the US EPA began a phasedown of leaded petrol to prevent spoiling catalytic converters, mandatory on all new US cars in 1975. With prompting by citizens and the Minnesota legislature, the US Congress required the US EPA to enforce a rapid phasedown on 1 January 1986 until the final ban of leaded petrol for highway vehicles on 1 January 1996. This article reviews the outcomes of curtailing leaded petrol on the temporal and spatial changes of pediatric blood Pb and soil lead (Pb) in metropolitan New Orleans. In 2001, a soil Pb survey was completed for all census tracts of metropolitan New Orleans. In 2006, after major flooding by Hurricane Katrina, a preliminary survey of 44 census tracts showed that the median soil Pb and children’s median blood Pb decreased across flooded and unflooded communities. In June 2017 a second survey was completed in all census tracts. Evaluation of pediatric blood Pb and soil Pb in matching census tracts (N=274) confirmed that curtailing leaded petrol diminished children’s exposure and concurrently reduced soil Pb. The concurrent temporal and spatial declines of children’s exposure and soil Pb were also observed in the Detroit Tri-County Area of Michigan. Curtailing leaded petrol was gradually accepted, and on 30 August 2021, 35 years after the US EPA phasedown, leaded petrol was banned by all nations. Eliminating leaded petrol was an essential step for primary Pb prevention of pediatric exposure and improving community health. Continuing efforts are required to reduce legacy-soil Pb that persists disproportionately in traffic congested, older, inner-city, urban areas, and other communities that are subjected to large inputs of Pb aerosols.

Keywords: blood lead decline, Cochrane collaboration, soil lead decline, mapping soil lead and blood lead, pediatric and community health, tetraethyl lead, leaded petrol lead aerosol

Article Details

How to Cite
MIELKE, Howard W.; GONZALES, Christopher R.; POWELL, Eric T.. Curtailing lead aerosols: Effects of primary lead prevention on soil lead, pediatric exposures, and community health.. Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 9, n. 10, oct. 2021. ISSN 2375-1924. Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/2561>. Date accessed: 03 july 2024. doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v9i10.2561.
Section
Research Articles

References

1. World Health Organization. Global Health Observatory. Urban Population Growth. http://www.who.int/gho/urban_health/situation_trends/urban_population_growth_text/en/
2. Bai, X. Advance the ecosystem approach in cities. Nature 2018, 559, 7.
3. Schwaba, T., Bleidom, W., Hopwood, C.J., Gebauer, J., Rentfrow, J. et al. 2021. The impact of childhood lead exposure on adult personality: Evidence from the United States, Europe, and a large-scale natural experiment. PNAS 118(29). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2020104118.
4. Sanders, T., Liu, Y., Buchner, V., Tchounwou, P.B. Neurotoxic Effects and Biomarkers of Lead Exposure: A Review. Rev. Environ. Health 2009, 24, 15–45.
5. Landrigan, P.J., Fuller, R., Acosta, N.J., Adeyi, O., Arnold, R., Baldé, A.B., Bertollini, R., Bose-O’Reilly, S., Boufford, J., Breysse, P.N., et al. The Lancet Commission on pollution and health. Lancet 2018, 391, 462–512, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32345-0
6. Lanphear, B.P., Rauch, S., Auinger, P., Allen, R.W., Hornung, R.W. Low-level lead exposure and mortality in US adults: A population-based cohort study. Lancet Public Health 2018, 3, 177–184, doi:10.1016/S2468-2667(18)30025-2.
7. Schraufnagel, D.E., Balmes, J.R., Cowl, C.T., De Matteis, S., Jung, S.H., Mortimer, K., Perez-Padilla, R., Rice, M.B., Riojas-Rodriguez, H., Sood, A., et al. Air Pollution and Noncommunicable Diseases: A Review by the Forum of International Respiratory Societies’ Environmental Committee, Part 1: The Damaging Effects of Air Pollution. Chest 2019, 155, 409–416
8. Zahran, S., Laidlaw, M.A.S., Rowe, D.B., Ball, A.S., Mielke, H.W. Motor neuron disease mortality and lifetime petrol lead exposure: Evidence from national age-specific and state-level age-standardized death rates in Australia. Environ. Res. 2017, 153, 181–190.
9. Patterson, C.C. Lead in the Human Environment, Alternative Perspective, National Academy of Sciences: Washington, DC, USA, 1980, p. 271.
10. Mielke, H.W., Anderson, J.C., Berry, K.J., Mielke, P.W., Jr., Chaney, R.L. Lead concentrations in inner city soils as a factor in the child lead problem. Am. J. Public Health 1983, 73, 1366–1369.
11. Mielke, H.W., Adams, J.L., Reagan, P.L., Mielke, P.W., Jr. Soil-dust lead and childhood lead exposure as a function of city size and community traffic flow: The case for lead abatement in Minnesota. Environ. Geochem. Health 1989, 9, 253–271.
12. Treasury Department, United States Public Health Service. Proceedings of a Conference to Determine Whether or Not There Is a Public Health Question in the Manufacture, Distribution, or Use of Tetraethyl Lead Gasoline, Public Health Bulletin No. 158 (August 1925), Government Printing Office: Washington, DC, USA, 1925.
13. Krachler, M., Zheng, J., Fisher, D., Shotyk, W. Direct Determination of Lead Isotopes (206Pb, 207Pb, 208Pb) in Arctic Ice Samples at Picogram per Gram Levels Using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Sector Field MS Coupled with a High-Efficiency Sample Introduction System. Anal. Chem. 2004, 76, 5510–5517.
14. Mielke, H.W., Laidlaw, M.A.S., Gonzales, C. Characterization of lead (Pb) from traffic in 90 U.S.A. urbanized areas: Review of urban lead dust and health. Environ. Int. 2011, 37, 248–257, doi:10.1016/j.envint.2010.08.006
15. Kovarik, W. Ethyl-leaded gasoline: How a classic occupational disease became an international public health disaster. Int. J. Occup. Environ. Health 2005, 11, 384–397.
16. Huang, S., Lawrence, J., Kang, C.M., Li, J., Martins, M., Vokonas, P., Gold, D.R., Schwartz, J., Coull, B.A., Koutrakis, P. Road proximity influences indoor exposures to ambient fine particle mass and components. Environ. Pollut. 2018, 243, 978–987.
17. O’Connor, J.T. The automobile controversy-federal control of vehicular emissions. Ecol. Law Q. 1975, 4, 661–691.
18. Kessler, R. Sunset for leaded aviation Gasoline? Environ. Health Perspect. 2013, 121, A55–A57; US Federal Aviation Administration. 2019, Leaded Aviation Fuel and the Environment. https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/leaded-aviation-fuel-and-environment?newsId=14754,
19. U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). National Emissions Inventory Data and Documentation [website]. Research Triangle Park, NC: Office of Air Quality Planning & Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (updated 28 August 2012). 2008. Available online: https://www.epa.gov/air-emissions-inventories .
20. Miranda, M.L., Anthopolos, R., Hastings, D. A geospatial analysis of the effects of aviation gasoline on childhood blood lead levels. Environ. Health Perspect. 2011, 119, 1513–1516, https://doi:10.1289/ehp.1003231.
21. Paulson, J.A., Brown, M.J. The CDC blood lead reference value for children: Time for a change. Environ. Health 2019, 18, 16, http://doi:10.1186/s12940-019-0457-7 .
22. Nussbaumer-Streit, B., Yeoh, B., Griebler, U., Pfadenhauer, L.M., Busert, L.K., Lhachimi, S.K., Lohner, S., Gartlehner G. 2016. Household interventions for preventing domestic lead exposure in children (Review). The Cochrane Library. Available online: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006047.
pub5/media/CDSR/CD006047/CD006047.pdf. (accessed on 10 June 2019).
23. Mielke, H.W., Gonzales, C.R., Powell, E.T. 2019. Curtailing Lead Aerosols: Effects of Primary Prevention on Declining Soil Lead and Children’s Blood Lead in Metropolitan New Orleans. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(12), 2068, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16122068
24. Zahran, S., Mielke, H.W., Gonzales, C.R., Powell, E.T., Weiler, S. New Orleans Before and After Hurricanes Katrina/Rita: A Quasi-Experiment of the Association between Soil Lead and Children’s Blood Lead. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2010, 44, 4433–4440, doi:10.1021/es100572s.
25. Mielke, H.W., Gonzales, C., Powell, E., Mielke, P.W., Jr. Changes of Multiple Metal Accumulation (MMA) in New Orleans Soil: Preliminary Evaluation of Differences between Survey I (1992) and Survey II (2000). Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2005, 2, 308–313.
26. Mielke, H.W., Gonzalez, C.R., Powell. E.T., Laidlaw M.A.S., Berry K.J., Mielke P.W. Jr., Egendorf S.P., 2019. The concurrent decline of soil lead and children’s blood lead in New Orleans PNAS 116(442):2058–22064 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1906092116
27. US Census Bureau. Tracts and Block Numbering Areas. New Orleans, LA MSA, Table 32: Selected Structural Characteristics of Housing Units: 1990, and Summary Tape File 3A, Louisiana 040, Lafourche Parish 050, Census Tracts 140, U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, Bureau of Census: Washington, DC, USA, 1993, pp. 565–615.
28. Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. 2015. Available online: http://dhh.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/page/466 (accessed on 20 August 2018).
29. Louisiana Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Rules. 2013–2015. Available online: http://dhh.louisiana.gov/assets/oph/Center-PHCH/Center-PH/genetic/LEAD/MedicalProviderInfo/LAHHCLPPToolkit.pdf
30. U.S. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Response to advisory committee on childhood lead poisoning prevention recommendations in low level lead exposure harms children: A renewed call for primary prevention. US Department of Health and Human Services: Atlanta, GA, USA. Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 2012, 61, 1–383.
31. Mielke, P.W., Jr., Berry, K.J. Permutation Methods: A Distance Function Approach, 2nd ed., Springer: New York, NY, USA, 2007, ISBN 978-0-387-69811-3.
32. Berry, K.J., Johnston, J.E., Mielke, P.W., Jr. A Chronicle of Permutation Statistical Methods, 1920–2000, and Beyond, Springer: Cham, Switzerland, Heidelberg, Germany, New York, NY, USA, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, London, UK, 2014.
33. Mielke, P.W., Berry, K.J., Mielke, H.W., Gonzales, C.R. Avoiding two major problems associated with statistical tests: One-way analysis of variance. Biom. Biostat. J. 2017, 1, 111.
34. Cade, B.S., Richards, J.D. User Manual for Blossom Statistical Package. USGS. Open-File Report 2005-1353.2005. Available online: https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1353/pdf/BlossomFortranVersionOF2005-1353.pdf
35. IBM Corp. SPSS Statistics for Macintosh, Version 23.0. Armonk, NY: Released 2015. https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/downloading-ibm-spss-statistics-23
36. Mielke, H.W., Gonzales, C.R., Powell, E.T., Jartun, M., Mielke P.W. Jr. 2007. Nonlinear association between soil lead and blood lead of children in metropolitan New Orleans, Louisiana: 2000–2005. Sci Total Env 388:43–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.08.012
37. Egendorf, S.P., Mielke, H.W., Castorena-Gonzalez, J.A., Powell, E.T., Gonzales, C.R. Soil Lead (Pb) in New Orleans: A Spatiotemporal and Racial Analysis. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 1314. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031314
38. Postma M, Goedhart J. 2019. Plots of Data—A web app for visualizing data together with their summaries. PLoS Biol 17(3): e3000202. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000202, See also, Shiny Apps https://huygens.science.uva.nl/
39. Mielke, H.W., Gonzales, C.R., Powell, E.T., Mielke P.W. Jr. 2016. Spatiotemporal dynamic transformations of soil lead and children's blood lead ten years after Hurricane Katrina: New grounds for primary prevention. Env. Int. 94:567-575. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2016.06.017
40. Mielke, H.W., Gonzales, C.R., Powell, E.T., Shah, A., Berry, K.J., Richter, D.D. 2020. Spatial-temporal association of soil Pb and children’s blood Pb in the Detroit Tri-County Area of Michigan (USA). Env. Res. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.110112
41. Mielke, H.W., Blake B., Burroughs S., Hassinger N. 1984 Urban Lead Levels in Minneapolis: The Case of the Hmong Children, Env. Res. 34: 64-76. https://DOI:10.1016/0013-9351(84)90076-8
42. Airborne lead reduction act of 1984. Hearing before the committee on environment and public works, United States Senate. Ninety-Eighth Congress, Second Session on 8.2609, a bill to amend the clean air act with regard to mobile source emission control. June 22, 1984. Printed US Government Printing Office
43. Reagan, P.L., Mielke H.W. 1984. Comments, The Minnesota Lead Coalition, Regulation of Fuel and Fuel Additives: Docket No. EN-84-05 Lead phase Down~ Proposed Rule (49 FR 31032-31050)
44. Han, Z, Guo, X, Zhang, B, Liao, J, Nie, L. 2018. Blood lead levels of children in urban and suburban areas in China (1997-2015): Temporal and spatial variations and influencing factors. Sci Total Environ. 2018 Jun 1;625:1659-1666. http://doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.12.315. Epub 2018 Jan 28. PMID: 29996461.
45. Cabrera Y. 31 August 2021. Leaded gasoline is finally gone – but its toxic legacy lingers. Grist. https://grist-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/grist.org/regulation/leaded-gasoline-lead-poisoning-united-nations/amp/
46. Annest, J.L., Pirkle, J.L., Makuc, D., Neese, J.W., Bayse, D.D., Kovar, M.G. Chronological trend in blood lead levels between 1976 and 1980. N. Engl. J. Med. 1983, 308, 1373–1377.
47. Pirkle, J.L., Brody, D.J., Gunter, E.W., Kramer, R.A., Paschal, D.C., Flegal, K.M., Matte, T.D. The decline in blood lead levels in the United States: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). JAMA 1994, 272, 284–291.
48. Egan, K.B., Cornwell, C.R., Courtney, J.G., Ettinger, A.S. Blood Lead Levels in U.S. Children Ages 1–11 Years, 1976–2016. Environ Health Perspect. 129(3), March 2021. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7932
49. Resongles et al. (2021). Strong evidence for the continued contribution of lead deposited during the 20th century to the atmospheric environment in London of today. PNAS https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2102791118.
50. Laidlaw, M.A.S., Zahran, S., Mielke, H.W., Taylor, M.P., Filippelli, G.M. Re-suspension of lead contaminated urban soil as a dominant source of atmospheric lead in Birmingham, Chicago, Detroit and Pittsburgh, USA. Atmos. Environ. 2012, 49, 302–310, https://doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.11.030.
51. Laidlaw, M.A.S., Mielke H.W., Filippelli, G.M., Johnson, D.L., Gonzales, C.R. Seasonality and children’s blood lead levels: Developing a predictive model using climatic variables and blood lead data from Indianapolis, Indiana, Syracuse, New York and New Orleans, Louisiana (USA). Environ. Health Perspect. 2005, 113, 793–800. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7932
52. Laidlaw, M.A.S., Filippelli, G.M. Resuspension of urban soils as a persistent source of lead poisoning in children: A review and new directions. Appl. Geochem. 2008, 23, 2021–2039.
53. Zahran, S., Laidlaw, M.A.S., McElmurry, S.P., Filippelli, G.M., Taylor, M. Linking Source and Effect: Resuspended Soil Lead, Air Lead, and Children’s Blood Lead Levels in Detroit, Michigan. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2013, 47, 2839−2845.
54. Tütrscher, S., Berger, P., Lindebner, L., Berger, T.W. Declining atmospheric deposition of heavy metals over the last three decades is reflected in soil and foliage of 97 beech (Fagus sylvatica) stands in the Vienna Woods. Environ. Pollut. 2017, 230, 561–573.
55. Pariente, S., Zhevelev, H., Sachs, E., Fragin, G.A., Zilbershtein, M. Roadside effect on lead content in sandy soil. Catena 2019, 107, 301–307.
56. Bahram, M., Hildebrand, F., Forslund, S.K., Anderson, J.L., Soudzilovskaia, N.A., Bodegom, P.M., Bengtsson-Palme, J., Anslan, S., Coelho, L.P., Harend, H., et al. Structure and function of the global topsoil microbiome. Nature 2018, 560, 233–237.
57. Wilkinson, M.T., Richards, P.J., Humphreys, G.S. Breaking ground: Pedological, geological, and ecological implications of soil bioturbation. Earth-Sci. Rev. 2009, 97, 257–272.
58. Johnson, D.L., Schaetzl, R.J. Differing views of soil and pedogenesis by two masters: Darwin and Dokuchaev. Geoderma 2015, 237–238, 176–189.
59. Mielke, H.W., Berry, K.J., Mielke, P.W., Powell, E.T., Gonzales, C.R. Multiple Metal Accumulation as a Factor in Learning Achievement within Various New Orleans Communities. Environ. Res. 2005, 97, 67–75.
60. Mielke, H.W., Zahran, S. The urban rise and fall of air lead (Pb) and the latent surge and retreat of societal violence. Environ. Int. 2012, 43, 48–55.
61. Zahran, S., Magzamen, S., Breunig, I.M., Mielke, H.W. Maternal exposure to neighborhood soil Pb and eclampsia risk in New Orleans, Louisiana (USA): Evidence from a natural experiment in flooding. Environ. Res. 2014, 133, 274–281.
62. Ottesen, R.T., Alexander, J., Langedal, M. et al. Soil pollution in day-care centers and playgrounds in Norway: national action plan for mapping and remediation. Environ Geochem Health 2008, 30, 623–637. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-008-9181-x
63. South, E.C., MD, 2018. Effect of Greening Vacant Land on Mental Health of Community-Dwelling Adults. JAMA Network Open. 2018,1(3):e180298. https://doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.0298
64. Laidlaw, M.A., Filippelli, G.M., Brown, S., Paz-Ferreiro, J., Reichman, S.M., Netherway, P., Netherway, P., Truskewycz, A., Ball, A.S., Mielke, H.W., et al. Case studies and evidence-based approaches to addressing urban soil lead contamination. Appl. Geochem. 2017, 83, 14–30.
65. Egendorf, S.P., Cheng, Z., Deeb, H., Flores, V. Paltseva, A., et al. 2018. Constructed soils for mitigating lead (Pb) exposure and promoting urban community gardening: The New York City Clean Soil Bank pilot study. Landscape and Urban Planning 175: 184–194.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.03.012