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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 8, 2016)
June 8, 2016 Page 5 Alarm Grows Over Toxins C ontinued from P age 3 sponding to the growing public concerns. “The county has a really in- teresting role in that we don’t regulate lead in the water or radon, and those (toxins) aren’t in our buildings,” said public health information oficer Julie Sullivan-Springhetti. “But the people in those buildings are our residents, and Multnomah Coun- ty cares about health.” Under the backdrop of a Change.org petition calling for Portland Public Schools Super- intendent Carole Smith’s resig- nation over the toxicity issues, and others demanding more ac- tion from government oficials, education on the home front can offer some preventative safety tips. “There’s always a little bit of lead loating around in your liv- er and your muscles,” says Dr. Zane Horowitz of the Oregon Poison Center. “Levels between 0-5 (micrograms/deciliter) aren’t unusual for kids that live in an inner city environment.” Since lead was used in every- thing from paint to children’s toys to piping for hundreds of years, its presence is still preva- lent in many of Portland’s older homes and buildings. The prob- lem, Dr. Horowitz says, lies in the length of exposure time and the height of levels in the blood stream. According to the health de- partment brochures, extended exposure to lead can cause learn- ing and behavioral problems, brain damage, speech impair- ment, stunted growth, liver dam- age, seizures and coma. Severe cases can be fatal. Dr. Horowitz says a bind- ing agent called Succimer, also known as Chemet, is a prescrip- tion for treatment that can bind metals in the body and help ex- crete the toxins over a period of time. “It does take a while,” says Dr. Horowitz. “Sometimes it could take months or as high as a year depending on how long they’ve been exposed to it and the levels in their body.” Horowitz says blood lead lev- els need to be or exceed 45 mi- crograms/deciliter to receive a Succimer treatment. The risks for high lead levels would be lower in school be- cause a child is in attendance for limited hours. “You can ask your child if they drink a lot of water at school. If it’s just a sip every now and then, there’s probably not the highest risk of them having high levels in their system,” explains Dr. Horowitz. Multnomah County works with WIC (Women, Infants and Children program) to provide free lead blood testing for chil- dren less than six years of age and pregnant women. “We want families to recog- nize the potential risks of lead poisoning so they can do due diligence in keeping their homes free,” says Mary Kay DiLoreto, In the last three years, every lead test that’s been taken in a doctor’s ofice or in a pop up clinic was recorded by the state. We know from those 15,000 tests that 188 were positive for lead in children under 19, with about 170 of those cases for children under age six, Sulli- van-Springhetti says. tion Agency. “There really is no treatment for removing radon from your body,” says Horowitz, “and there are no immediate effects at all, just the lifelong risk of getting lung cancer becomes higher.” People exposed to toxins 8 hours a day for life, for example, would have higher levels to the risks of increasing cancer, says Dr. Horowitz. He said the real risk for people who garden or According to the health department brochures, extended exposure to lead can cause learning and behavioral problems, brain damage, speech impairment, stunted growth, liver damage, seizures and coma. Severe cases can be fatal. the program supervisor for WIC Northeast, which operates a pop up clinic out of Multnomah County’s Walnut Park building at 3929 .NE. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. About 80 of these clinics are held every year at various loca- tions around the county intended to inform and educate the public on lead risks and prevention. Unfortunately, extended ex- posure to radon gas and airborne heavy metals isn’t as easy to identify or counteract. Of all the carcinogenic toxins Portlanders have been invol- untarily exposed to lately, ra- don is the number one cause of lung cancer in people who don’t smoke cigarettes, according to the U.S. Environmental Protec- live adjacent to a problem site, is very minimal when it comes to a lifelong risk of cancer. Gov. Kate Brown has sought to shut down the melting of tox- ic heavy metals by glass manu- facturers like Bullseye Glass in southeast Portland, and Mult- nomah County has been work- ing with the Oregon DEQ and Oregon Health Authority in pin- pointing risks and solutions. Taking on these health is- sues one at a time, the county is tackling lead irst with a public outreach to get people tested. Portland Public Schools will test every school this summer for lead. “We want to go to and work with the community, so we’re hoping this is the beginning of the conversation and that by the time this horrible experience with Portland public is over that we will have a lot of people that know a lot about lead,” says Sul- livan-Springhetti. Multnomah County encour- ages concerned citizens and par- ents to get their blood lead levels tested, as well as the water ix- tures in their homes. “We want people to know that no matter whom you are, no mat- ter where you live, you have a right and you have access to the county coming to help answer questions about your health. That’s what’s really important,” says Sullivan-Springhetti. For more information on lead and testing, contact the coun- ty Leadline at 503-988-4000 or email leadline@multco.us. A list of free testing dates and lo- cations for pregnant women and children under six can be found at https://multco.us/health/ lead-poisoning-prevention/get- ting-your-child-tested-lead.