Lead Contamination: A Specter of Kensington’s Industrial Past Returns
Soil near the intersection of Huntington St. and Aramingo Ave. in Port Richmond may contain harmfully high amounts of lead. Research by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that area children are six times more likely to have dangerous amounts of the toxic metal in their bloodstreams than the national average.
Ghost Factory./Thomas Weir
USA Today’s Alison Young first broke the story concerning Philadelphia and several other cities back in April 2012. Three years later, a new article by USA Today has found there is more evidence that,
Children living near the former site of a huge lead factory in Philadelphia are six times more likely than children nationwide to have elevated levels of toxic lead in their bodies.
The John T. Lewis-National Lead-Anzon factory that was in business for almost 150 years in Kensington is the centerpiece of the controversy. The EPA has thus far declined interview requests. They will be making a decision “within the next few months” if cleanup will start on contaminated areas or not.
Ghost Factory./Thomas Weir
“There’s a problem, and that problem needs to be addressed,” Sandy Salzman, executive director of the New Kensington Community Development Corp., told USA Today. “Kids’ lives could be at stake.”
The Spirit is currently working on a feature article about this issue, which will go to print in the next few weeks.
