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Ad hoc committee forming to address lead issues

Area residents who are interested in lead cleanup projects in the Big River watershed area are invited to a meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday to receive updates on the Leadwood tailings cleanup and to form committees to oversee other projects.

The meeting will be held in the former tourist center next to the Highway Patrol headquarters at the entrance of Mineral Area College. Representatives of Missouri Department of Natural Resources will attend.

The focus is getting the committee started. Questions about any lead cleanup in the area would be welcome, however, including any related to St. Joe State Park.

The meeting is the latest in a series designed to form a community advisory group of concerned citizens who will help prioritize lead contamination problems and help find solutions.

Community development specialists from the University of Missouri Extension have agreed to help the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) work with interested Parkland residents to form the group and committees. Members will provide input to the DNR, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Doe Run Company about lead contamination issues they want addressed.

Committees may work on specific issues such as removing lead-contaminated sediment from the river, cleaning up trash on the tailing fields, yard testing and replacement of soil at households with high lead levels.

Lead in its natural form is called galena and has not generally been considered a health hazard in the past.

A new study completed in 2006 however shows that the galena in chat and tailings is 20 percent bioavailable when ingested. The galena becomes 40 percent bioavailable when mixed in soil. The studies determining that used pigs, whose digestive systems are the most biologically similar to humans.

Once galena is smelted or oxidized, the lead is changed to a form that is  more readily taken up by biological tissues. Lead in an oxidized state poses a serious health risk to humans, especially children.

The Centers for Disease Control identifies lead paint used in older homes and soil contaminated by leaded gasoline emissions as the two major exposure pathways to lead poisoning in the United States.

Tailings and chat containing galena have washed into Big River in the past. A health advisory warns against eating fish from there due to a potential for lead exposure from the galena.

Paula Barr is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-431-2010, ext. 172 or at pbarr@dailyjournalonline.com.

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