Giving Compass' Take:

• Andrew Zaleski highlights the prevalence of lead in urban communities and the safety risks for humans that ingest lead in any quantity. 

• How can funders work to address and prevent lead poisoning? 

• Read about unsafe drinking water in schools. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there is no safe amount of lead in children’s blood. Even a level of 1 microgram per deciliter of blood of this harmful and sometimes deadly neurotoxin is enough to lower IQ by several points. Lead wreaks havoc on the mind and body; irritability, mood disorders, appetite loss, and developmental delays are all symptoms of exposure. “A sugar-size packet of lead dust throughout a two-bedroom home is enough to create a lead-poisoned child,” says Helen Meier, an epidemiology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s school of public health.

For decades, lead served as a critical component in the pipes, paint, and petrol of America’s rural and urban topography. Over the second half of the 20th century, as evidence piled up regarding the negative health effects generated by chronic, low-level exposure, the law finally caught up. Starting in the 1970s, federal provisions gradually took effect to restrict or ban lead-based paint, leaded gasoline, and the use of lead pipes in plumbing.

But the specter of lead still looms in cities across the country, and its effects continue to be felt. The latest exhibit is Newark, New Jersey, where improperly treated drinking water is corroding the city’s lead service lines, allowing the toxic element to flow through residents’ faucets.

Today, about half a million American kids between the ages of 1 and 5 have a blood-lead level that exceeds 5 micrograms per deciliter. And it’s a problem that disproportionately affects children of color, according to the CDC. The impact of this contamination in American cities could be enormous. One provocative hypothesis, for example, draws a direct connection between lead exposure as a child and crime later in life. “Higher levels of lead exposure are correlated with lower test scores and higher rates of criminal activity,” says Kevin Schnepel, an economics professor at Canada’s Simon Fraser University and co-author of the 2017 research paper “Life after Lead.”

Read the full article about lead in urban communities by Andrew Zaleski at CityLab.