Brooklyn, NY – Gardens of houses built before 1978 (when lead-based paint was banned) are likely to contain soil with excessive levels of lead, according to an article in today’s New York Times, which means that most Brooklynites with access to a back yard have some work to do.
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Frank Meuschke, an artist living in a rented house in Brooklyn, had his soil tested at Brooklyn College for $12 and found that it contained nine times the normal amount of lead.
The health implications go beyond whether it’s safe to eat a tomato from your garden– Gabriel Filippelli, a professor of earth science at Indiana University-Purdue University has shown a direct correlation between lead levels in people’s blood and how much lead is in the soil where they live.
Approaches to dealing with the problem include replacing the soil altogether to putting down sod to mixing in compost and lime.
I THINK THEY SHOULD ALL GO FIND JOBS!!!!!!!!!!!!
wish the rats would die from it
What about outside of brooklyn – or were no houses built there before 1978?
Wow, one artist and one professor. This is a really worthwhile article. Very informative, very relative.
NOT!
I am sick and tired of these puff pieces that say very little and scare a lot.What kind of dirt under what conditions were studied by this professor? How much dirt are we talking about? Does this apply to gardens, lawns, bare dirt, rocks – what?? What blood levels is he talking about? How accurate and precise are these blood levels and dirt levels?
There are a lot of unanswered questions. Ignore this report. If it truly meant anything, Brooklyn people must be a lot smarter than they are, but for the lead in their body! 😉