Last week Friends of Parkside held a health fair, here’s a list of all the vendors that came.
The health fair was a great success thanks to the vendors and staff; and one particular organization who caught my eye was Green Door Initiative (GDI).
During Green Door Initiative’s workshop their representative talked about the toxic dangers of certain makeup and cleaning products, and the high toxicity levels in the neighborhoods of Detroit.
Of these topics the one which particularly concerned me was the high toxicity levels in Detroit.
I had heard general statistics about how Black communities on average had higher toxicity levels that others but, nothing concerning Detroit particularly. In GDI”s workshop I learned that my neighborhood actually had a prominent case in the history of toxic waste in Detroit.
I live on the North Eastside of Detroit, in an area called Krainz Woods -which is the blocks enclosed by the intersections of Ryan Rd., Nevada , Mound Rd., and 7 mile.
There are a lot of shells of old industry in the area, and currently there is an incinerator on Nevada St. The toxic waste that was proven to be present in Krainz Woods was lead, and it had deposited there because a business near by had been melting batteries (with lead in them) from industrial machines and lead particles had become airborne.
During the 80’s it was discovered that the people of Krainz Woods had an high rate of lead poisoning which according to the EPA has negative neurological and behavioral effects, and can impair intellectual and physical maturation -among many side effects.
In the end, the residents of Krainz Wood settled a civil suit -of course this occurred all before I was born and before my family lived in the area, however the incident resonated with me because I can remember as a child that people (I don’t know what organization with which they were associated) came to my house to test me for lead poisoning.
The case in Krainz Woods was especially significant because it was a case of lead poisoning that was unrelated to the stereotypical causes of lead poisoning -such as eating chipped paint. It proved that lead poisoning could be the result of larger environmental factors.
Additionally, GDI said that Michigan and particularly Detroit has high rates of lead poisoning period. According to Michigan Dept of Community Health: “The city of Detroit had over half of the state’s lead poisoning cases in 2012”.
In this image it shows which areas are most affected by lead poisoning – the areas shaded dark blue have higher rates that those of a lighter shade.
This phenomena isn’t ironic though: Detroit and its neighborhoods were literally built around industries -and some handle or/and deposit toxic matter. Still though as Detroit is being prepped to be more cosmopolitan than industrious, the issue of high toxic levels are still relevant.
Many people and companies are renovating Detroit’s old structures that may be composed of toxic matter such as lead and asbestos, and perhaps by renovating they’re creating toxic waste.
I would like to learn if there are policies and organizations in place to assure renovators are carrying out proper procedure to prevent depositing toxic waste in Detroit.
Also, this issue could possibly be a serious obstacle for the urban farming in Detroit -some garden are developed on land that is a deposit from toxic matter or that held of structures that were composed of, or housed toxic matter.
Here more info about lead poisoning:
Lead Poisoning rise in the U.S. after CDC lowers blood cutoff
Lead Poisoning is still damaging Michigan Kids
Thankfully, leading poisoning has radically declined due to state initiatives, but funding is being cut and this could have adverse effect of the decline of cases.
