IN A YEAR when environmental hazards have screamed across TV news broadcasts with surprising frequency, lead has had a starring role.
Already on alert from disturbing revelations of carcinogens spewing from two Portland glass factories, parents citywide flew into a panic in May, when it suddenly became clear that Portland Public Schools (PPS) wasn’t keeping lead out of their kids’ drinking water.
What often gets lost in this important conversation is that there aren’t records of anyone getting lead poisoning from water in Portland. As PPS hastened to point out earlier this year: “Health department investigations have traced lead poisoning in children in our community to numerous sources including paint, metal scrapping, hobbies, pottery, and a teapot from a yard sale.”
Not water. And that means a bigger cause for concern might well be the backhoe trundling down your street.
As home demolitions reach historic levels in Portland, there are no safeguards against lead dust that can be stirred up when older homes are demolished.
It’s an odd oversight. Federal rules dutifully require safety precautions if those same homes are renovated—rules designed to stop property owners and their neighbors from coming into contact with lead, a neurotoxin for which there is no known safe exposure level.
But when the home is torn down? The lead can fly unchecked, potentially creating problems for soil and nearby neighbors.