Studies On Sewage Sludge In Black Neighborhoods Will Exacerbate Blacks' Skepticism Of Medical Community, Editorial States

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 21 Apr 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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Blacks' "skepticism" toward the medical community "will be strained further by news of the sewage [sludge] studies first reported this week by the Associated Press," a St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial states. The federally funded studies were "designed to test whether sewage sludge -- the semisolid remains of human and industrial waste mixed with grass and brush clippings to form a compost -- could protect against lead poisoning," the editorial says. In one study in East St. Louis, scientists applied the mixture to a vacant lot near an elementary school and community center in an "almost entirely black" neighborhood. A similar, larger study was conducted in a black neighborhood in Baltimore.

While the sludge does lower lead levels "[i]n theory," the editorial states, "significant questions remain, even after the two-year study, about whether the treatment actually works" and "about the health effects of exposure to sewage sludge and whether parents living around the study site were adequately warned of potential risks to their children." There are also questions about whether the "value of information obtained through the research ... outweigh[s] the harm that both have caused," the editorial says, adding, "Probably not." According to the editorial, "no lead tests were performed on children and pregnant women," and follow-up medical care was not provided.

In addition, the lead author of one of the studies, Mark Farfel, "was chastised by Maryland's highest court in 2001 for earlier research in which 75 poor children were exposed to lead paint," according to the editorial, which adds, "That alone should have made him ineligible for further federal funding." The editorial continues, "Congress should investigate these questionable studies, which continue the tragic legacy of earlier experiments on the poor, the powerless and the inadequately informed," concluding, "The rights and safety of the people who live in inner-city neighborhoods deserve no less protection than those of people in affluent suburbs" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4/17).

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