The Auto Industry's Lead Recycling Program is Poisoning People

"POISONOUS DUST falls from the sky over the town of Ogijo, near Lagos, Nigeria. It coats kitchen floors, vegetable gardens, churchyards and schoolyards. The toxic soot billows from crude factories that recycle lead for American companies. With every breath, people inhale invisible lead particles and absorb them into their bloodstream. The metal seeps into their brains, wreaking havoc on their nervous systems. It damages livers and kidneys."

"Lead is an essential element in car batteries. But mining and processing it is expensive. So companies have turned to recycling as a cheaper, seemingly sustainable source of this hazardous metal. As the United States tightened regulations on lead processing to protect Americans over the past three decades, finding domestic lead became a challenge. So the auto industry looked overseas to supplement its supply."

"Seventy people living near and working in factories around Ogijo volunteered to have their blood tested by The New York Times and The Examination, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates global health. Seven out of 10 had harmful levels of lead. Every worker had been poisoned. More than half the children tested in Ogijo had levels that could cause lifelong brain damage. Dust and soil samples showed lead levels up to 186 times as high as what is generally recognized as hazardous."

Poisonous lead dust from crude recycling factories in Ogijo, near Lagos, coats homes, gardens, churchyards and schoolyards, exposing residents through inhalation and ingestion. Lead particles enter bloodstreams, damage nervous systems, livers and kidneys, and can cause lifelong brain damage in children. Recycling of reclaimed lead became widespread as mining and processing costs rose and the U.S. tightened domestic regulations, prompting the auto industry to source lead overseas. Blood tests of local residents found high lead levels: seven out of ten adults had harmful concentrations, every worker showed poisoning, and more than half of tested children had levels linked to permanent cognitive harm. Soil samples registered up to 186 times hazardous levels.

Read at www.nytimes.com