Action alert: Lead is an essential nutrient!! Ask EPA to remove lead from toxins list!!


OK, that was definitely satire. The EPA is, in fact, considering removing lead from its air pollutants list. Lead battery manufacturers and other industry groups may have pressured them to do so. Removing lead as a toxin would be a spectacularly idiotic thing to do, and we should write the EPA right now (link below) and tell them so.

Lead has been described as the archetype toxin. It's the most well-studied environmental pollutant. Its harmful effects (nervous system and brain damage, kidney damage, developmental damage in kids) have been well documented. In addition, large amounts of lead used to be released into the atmopshere by burning leaded gasoline. It was once used in paint. Even today, underprivileged kids in developed nations may still be at risk of lead exposure from paint in old houses. When cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors and TVs are dumped in developing nations with lax environmental controls like China, India, and numerous African coastal nations, the lead in the CRT glass may leach into groundwater, and put more people at risk. It is true that worldwide atmospheric lead levels have decreased significantly, which is why the EPA claims it is time to reconsider restrictions.

This would be an act of monumental stupidity. True, if average lead levels go up by just a tad, the average person will have not much to worry about. The problem is, there is no 'average' person. Underprivileged communities will suffer the greatest additional lead exposure - they are already disproportionately exposed to environmental toxins. They will suffer the most if we relax pollution standards for lead.

Write the EPA now!
Environmental Action petition:
http://www.environmental-action.org/enviroaction.asp?id=2052&id4=ES

Yahoo news story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061207/ap_on_go_pr_wh/epa_lead_pollution

PS, "Lead is an essential nutrient!!" comes from my priest, Padre Hamilton, who has an excellent sense of humor.