Lead-en with Problems

We all know of the problems that Flint is facing with its contaminated water supply. The filthy water makes for “great” (sick) TV and the interviews with the parents of children make heart wrenching/breaking stories.

Less glamorous is another problem with lead that is lurking in the houses that many of the poor and minorities live in. A problem so fine that you would need a microscope to see the culprit. But it's there. It's not as glamorous, but it's just as deadly.

These are older houses that were painted with lead paint. The paint chips, falls off and children pick it up and eat it. Or, as WKBW-TV reports, it's on window sills and is ground to a fine powder when people open and close their windows. Everyone breathes in that dust.

Or out in a field that children play in that used to be a former industrial site that had a hand in lead processing. The children score a goal playing soccer. Who knew they were scoring with potential lead poisoning. And the lot is owned by the city of Buffalo.

If this existed in suburban houses, it would have been properly addressed as soon at it was discovered. No questions asked. It's in a lower class, impoverished neighborhood or in a former industrial zone. Nobody really cares, or it affects so few people that TV can't make it into a great story.

Never mind that we will be paying for this with higher health costs, educational costs, and costs to the criminal justice system. How many inmates are just a little brain damaged from lead?

Mother Jones (on-line magazine) had an article that projected the costs of the cleanup in Flint would exceed $60 million. If the capitalist appointed city manager would have listened to the engineers, this problem would have never happened. Now there's the after-effects cost.

The lines will scale back up according to the article. They suggest that the $60 million be used for lead abatement in homes. Get the lead out of where people spend a great deal of their time.

No matter what, we need the lead out.

We need it out of the water.

We need it out of the houses.

We also need the capitalists and their policies that led to this crisis out of office.

Given the damage that they have done, they need to be put in jail.

Flint Probably Has Bigger Problems Than Lead Pipes

City doesn't tell neighbors about lead dangers

Flint crisis revives lead concern in WNY