[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]here's lead in the baby teeth of children living near the Exide facility in Vernon, providing further evidence that the now-closed recycled car battery plant is responsible for contaminating the air in and around parts of Southeast Los Angeles.
The findings came in a study released this week by USC researchers. “We found the higher the level of lead in the soil, the higher the amount of lead in baby teeth,” one of the study's authors, assistant professor Jill Johnston, told USC News. “There’s no safe level of lead; it’s a potent neurotoxin.”
Exide closed in March of 2015 as part of a legal settlement, but not before it released 3,500 tons of lead – contaminating air, soil, and groundwater in Vernon, Boyle Heights, Commerce, Maywood, Huntington Park, Bell, and parts of East L.A. Hundreds of thousands of people have been impacted by the contamination and criticize the slow efforts to clean up the soil around these homes.
The contamination continues to plague Southeast and East L.A. residents, the report found. “Higher lead in teeth means higher lead in the brain, kidney and bones,” Johnston said.