Lead Exposure

Herculaneum has had more luck with lead cleanup than other areas. Missouri's Old Lead Belt has been on this list for a decade and they have yet to see relocation for their residents. The cleanup has been a long and slow process, much slower than Herculaneum's lead cleanup. The area in the Old Lead Belt has 25,000 residents and is about 10 times the population of Herculaneum but may have been overlooked because the EPA bypassed Sueperfund's complex national priority list. Officials claim that Superfund is a slow-moving process that takes time. Herculaneum has received a lot of press attention that may be the reason their clean up has progressed so much faster than other areas.


January 29, 2002

Herculaneum has received a lot of attention because of the high levels of lead poisoning that have been tested in around a quarter of the town's children. The risks associated with lead exposure are serious, including neurological problems, like learning disabilities. Lead exposure problems that have been highlighted are not even as bad as the number of other cities that have been affected much worse than the Herculaneum residents.

While Herculaneum has received a lot of attention for their high levels of lead, other poor, urban areas have yet to receive protection from the lead poisoning afflicted on the children. The EPA claims they are unable to help these children that must live in old, run down conditions full of lead based paint chips and flakes.

January 24, 2002

The federal official announced they would temporarily move hundred of residents from Herculaneum out of their homes in order to strip the lead contamination from the yards and homes. The relocation would include homes with young children, pregnant women, and various others, as well as homes with children older than 6 but who have high lead levels. There are skeptical opinions of how effective the lead cleanup will be, considering there is still a smelter polluting the town with lead. Tests performed on various Herculaneum areas have found that there are dangerous levels of lead contained in the soil, streets, homes, schools, and many other places.

January 20, 2002

In 1999, more than 372 million pounds of lead was released according to the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory, and Herculaneum has emerged as another area contaminated by lead. The EPA has fallen behind on lead pollution cleanup, including areas of Oklahoma that has become so polluted that the governor wishes to relocate two entire towns. Lead poisoning has been a continual problem that has negatively affected entire towns and cities. New ideas must be considered when approaching this ongoing problem. Currently, the federal-state partnership in dealing with lead contamination and pollution is strong.

Contact us for your legal rights if you, or someone you know, has suffered from the effects of lead.

January 20, 2002

A Herculaneum child had blood tests last year showing her lead level to be twice the standard that is considered for lead poisoning. She is among over a hundred other Herculaneum children and families to suggest to have lead poisoning. Lead harms the neurological development of children and fetuses, causing reduced intelligence, behavioral disorders, and other physical problems. Adults can endure fatigue, heart, and kidney problems.

The EPA announced a plan to relocate the households with young children, pregnant women, and other people sensitive to lead while their homes and yards are cleaned for lead contamination. Herculaneum is the home of the country's largest smelter. Data from Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services show that 24% of the children tested had blood lead levels greater than the federal lead poisoning level. Of the 200 children that are 6 years of younger that live in Herculaneum, about 80 were tested.

January 9, 2002

"Data show high lead levels in Herculaneum children"

Herculaneum, MO found that about one in four children that were tested by the state suffer from lead exposure poisoning. These results are based on preliminary data, but House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt asked that Herculaneum be placed on the Environmental Protection Agency's national priority list for cleanup funds. The city of Herculaneum is the home of the largest lead smelter in the nation. In a door-to-door survey by the state's health department, they found 15 of 62 children, age 6 or younger, met the criteria for the federal government's definition of lead exposure poisoning.