Sen. Kit Bond seeks health study of lead exposure in Herculaneum

[Guest guest]

http://www.newstribune.com/stories/031102/sta_0311020036.asp

Monday, March 11, 2002

Bond seeks health study in Herculaneum

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Sen. Kit Bond has promised to push for up to $3 million

for the first long-term study on the effects of lead on children living near

Doe Run Co.'s lead smelter in Herculaneum.

Bond, R-Mo., a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is seeking the

money in the next federal budget. The study would be the first to assess the

effects of lead on Herculaneum's children over a period of years.

Other political leaders have also called for action in Herculaneum. Gov. Bob

Holden, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and Sen. Carnahan, all

Democrats, have asked the EPA to strongly consider upgrading Herculaneum to

Superfund status. The move would make federal money available for public

health emergencies.

Herculaneum, about 30 miles south of St. Louis, is the site of a

government-mandated cleanup that began last year. Doe Run has agreed to

modify the smelter, remove contaminated soil, clean city streets and house

interiors, among other cleanup measures.

State health officials found that about 45 percent of children under 6

living on the smelter side of Herculaneum had high lead levels, known to

hamper brain development. Overall, about 28 percent of the town's children

had high levels. The national rate is about 7.6 percent.

Bond recommended that the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease

Registry, which monitors health at toxic waste sites around the country,

begin the study with the expectation of money becoming available later in

the year.

" We're going to fund it to protect innocent children who are victims of

prior pollution " in Herculaneum, he said.

In a letter to Dr. P. Koplan, the agency's administrator, Bond

suggested measuring the neurological effect of lead on children and a

long-term health monitoring project.

A Herculaneum alderman who advocates buyouts of residents near the smelter

questioned the idea of a long-term study.

" I'd like to see the 2 or 3 million bucks used to get kids out of town

rather than to keep them in town as guinea pigs, " said Warden.

" They've had 30 years to study the kids. Now it's time to protect them. "

A representative of the federal agency for toxic substances said Bond's

proposals would be taken seriously.

" There has been discussion of a long-term health study that follows

residents from Herculaneum decades into their lives ... determining how

living in Herculaneum has impacted their health, " said Blackshear,

regional representative for the agency in Kansas City.

Bond said the prospect of shutting down the smelter, the nation's largest,

is going too far.

" We need the jobs and we need the lead, so long as we can do the things we

need to do " to ensure children's safety, Bond said.

Doe Run supports Bond's position on the study, spokeswoman Barb Shepard

said.

" We support anything that is focused on the health of the children, " she

said.