The Urban Environment and Children's Health: Soils as an Integrator of Lead, Zinc, and Cadmium in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A

• Published in: Environmental research 1999-08, Vol.81 (2), p.117-129
• Main Authors: Mielke, H.W., Gonzales, C.R., Smith, M.K., Mielke, P.W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Cadmium - analysis; Cadmium - toxicity; Child; environmental justice; Environmental pollutants toxicology; Female; General aspects; Humans; Lead - analysis; Lead - blood; lead poisoning; Lead Poisoning - etiology; Male; Medical sciences; Socioeconomic Factors; Soil Pollutants - analysis; Soil Pollutants - toxicity; Toxicology; urban geochemistry; urban soil Pb map; Zinc - analysis; Zinc - toxicity; Zn and Cd phytotoxicity
• ISSN: 0013-9351; 1096-0953
• DOI: 10.1006/enrs.1999.3966

Soils are evaluated as a diagnostic tool of environmental conditions that influence health. The samples for this study are urban topsoil (0–2.5 cm depth) samples (n=4026) analyzed for Pb, Zn, and Cd by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The parent materials for New Orleans soils are derived from the Mississippi River, and alluvium from the Bonnet Carré Spillway (n=31) serve as control samples for this study. The urban samples were stratified by census tract (n=286). Blood Pb (BL) levels of children ≤6 years were also stratified by census tract and paired with soil Pb (SL) (n=175). A significant association (P=1.2×10−23) was found between median BL and median SL. The association was modeled by BL=3.06+0.33 (SL)0.5 (correlation coefficient=0.69 between the modeled BL and the observed BL and P=3.5×10−22). A median SL threshold (≥310 μg g−1 and