{"id":178,"date":"2021-01-27T16:37:08","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T21:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/invisible-violence\/?page_id=178"},"modified":"2021-04-14T19:58:14","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T23:58:14","slug":"can-we-get-the-lead-out","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/invisible-violence\/can-we-get-the-lead-out\/","title":{"rendered":"CAN WE GET THE LEAD OUT?"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Introduction<\/h3>\n

As in previous analyses, it is imperative to determine what is and is not present in the River wards at different times in history. Namely, while many of the factories physically no longer exist, their toxic legacies remain in the soil; this impacts the new infrastructure and urban redevelopment occurring on the same lands. With this in mind, the industrial legacy of the River wards, which enabled its rise and caused its eventual fall, has implications for current residents’ health and safety because of the remains of toxic land.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The history of metal smelting in the Philadelphia region is vast: data collected by the Princeton Anthropology Department\u2019s VizE Lab, under Project Philadelphia, identified around 48 lead and heavy metal smelters in Philadelphia city limits. The historical presence of smelters is integral to residents\u2019 health because of the toxic effects that metals such as lead have on the human body. According to the CDC, there is no safe amount of lead present in the human body or blood stream and lead has been shown to impact an individual\u2019s, \u201c <\/span>IQ, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement\u201d (<\/span>Blood Lead Levels in Children | Lead | CDC<\/span><\/i>, 2020). While there are proven detrimental health effects on the body from being exposed to lead and other hard metals, the United States government (through its role in the Environmental Protection Agency) historically has not provided aid or valuable information to its constituents who reside on toxic grounds; moreover, the majority of those who live on land contaminated by lead are those of lower socioeconomic status. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Image taken from Philly Thrive\u2019s Facebook page. Comic is from the Philadelphia Inquirer, artist is Signe Wilkinson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cartoons, such as the one depicted, show how prominent lead poisoning is in Philadelphia communities and the severe impacts it has on the population.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Environmental toxicity from old factories in the River wards was driven by the smelting process, in which metal ores were heated so that the different metals could be separated; each metal has a different melting point. In the process of smelting, lead particles enter the environment and settle into the earth; metals do not decompose and remain in the soil forever. This means that if the soil is upturned, through processes such as urbanization that are characteristic of cities, lead is re-exposed and has the potential to endanger the health of those present in the geographic area. Lead can enter the ecosystem during every stage of the smelting process (as outlined in the table below, the EPA has identified 18 different sources of lead particulate emission in the smelting process); this coupled with the enormous volume of lead smelters in Philadelphia\u2019s geographic area, depicts how the land can become contaminated to this extent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n