Special Report: Children poisoned by lead on U.S. Army bases as hazards ignored

Reuters ^ | 16 Aug 2018 | Joshua Schneyer and Andrea Januta

[blueplum]

[snip]The Army requires http://www.campbell.army.mil/Installation/Environmental_Handbook/Documents/LBPManagementtPlan_DEC2014.pdf abatement when certified testing identifies deteriorating lead paint in base homes. Yet it also "discourages" this type of lead-paint inspection https://phc.amedd.army.mil/topics/workplacehealth/ih/Pages/Lead.aspx, in part because lead abatement can be costly. These homes put military kids at risk. Reuters obtained medical data from the Army showing that at least 31 small children tested high for lead at a Fort Benning hospital over a recent six-year period. All tested above the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's threshold for elevated lead levels – 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood. Any child who tests high warrants a public health response, the CDC says. Army data from other clinics showed at least 77 more high blood-lead tests for children at Fort Polk in Louisiana, Fort Riley in Kansas, and Fort Hood and Fort Bliss in Texas. From 2011 to 2016, Brooke Army Medical Center...

[blueplum]

This story concerning lead paint seems to have been dragging on for a decade now, and this is just Reuter's side of things, but maybe Trump can light a fire under those who need to have some fires lit under them and get base housing squared away before 2020?

[Politically Correct]

Need to turn the Rehab Addict loose on the problem.
An awful lot of base housing was built in the 40's and 50's. The one I stayed in in the late 70's had asbestos tile on the floor.

[mewzilla]

I can see a great use for the money that was going to spent on the parade...

[Flag_This]

When they took the lead out of the paint, the chips just weren’t as tasty to me.

[Harold Shea]

The barracks back then had coal fired furnaces too!

Wonder that we survived.

[DuncanWaring]

Ping.

[shelterguy]

“””””””’When they took the lead out of the paint, the chips just weren’t as tasty to me.””””””””””””

Lead paint stopped in 1978. You can still find the good lead paint chips to eat but you just need to look harder. Try buying some old painted furniture at a garage sale or something. That might keep you going for awhile.

[DIRTYSECRET]

The military is a socialist organization. Equal pay and all that. Nothing gets done.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Here’s another idea: Send military children to schools ON BASE. Don’t contract it out to the local public schools. All that school voucher stuff can be handled within the confines of the military. Social experimentation-like the rats play with our defense. Could the on base schools do better? Why not?

[moovova]

My kid almost went to Fort Wainwright in Alaska. Naturally the wife and I did some research in the expectation of visiting. I discovered the HUGE environmental pollution problem they had there. Fortunately, the transfer did not pan out.

“Taku Gardens - To meet the needs of new personnel and their families construction of 128 homes on a 54-acre housing project known as Taku Gardens began in 2005 on the former communications site.[3] In June, 2005 construction workers noticed “stained soil and unusual odors during excavation of a building foundation” and laboratory testing revealed the presence of PCB at concentrations of up to 115,000 mg/kg - Alaska’s current clean-up standard is 1 mg/kg.[3] Further testing of the site revealed the presence of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, chlorinated compounds including solvents, herbicides, pesticides, dioxins, and “munitions-related compounds” such as nitroaromatics and propellants.[3] Construction was suspended August–September 2005 and continued until end of 2006. A January, 2007 Army audit questioned “the wisdom of building a family housing complex on top of a known 1950s-era military landfill” and concluded that “the situation with the Taku construction project is the direct result of multiple individuals failing to adhere to Army and federal regulations and guidance.”[4][5] From 2007 to 2010 drums and debris were excavated, PCB contaminated soil was removed and backfilled, but some fuel and volatile organic compound-contaminated soil and groundwater remains on site.[6]”

[Flag_This]

"Try buying some old painted furniture at a garage sale or something."

Thank you for the helpful suggestion, but honestly, it just wouldn't be the same. You know, you get older, your tastes mature... I've moved on to fine Chinese melamine.

Frankly, I'm a little concerned about Trump increasing tariffs on China.

[Windflier]

Yeah, we army brats used to chew on the walls all the time, when we lived in base housing. Why do you think we’re so nuts today?

[DuncanWaring]

At least you’ve got an excuse!

I lived in base housing for a few months when I was 4; I have no recollection of ever having any interest in chewing paint.

I blame mine on blows to the head.

[Windflier]

I lived in base housing for a few months when I was 4; I have no recollection of ever having any interest in chewing paint.

Exactly my point.

The left has been pushing the enviro-wacko scare about lead-based paint for decades, and no one ever seems to call them on the obvious:

When have you ever seen a child chew on baseboards, casings, or doors?

[DuncanWaring]

Hasn’t the sale of lead-based paint been illegal for 40-odd years?

I would think that by now the vast majority of lead-based had been either gnawed away, cleaned-up or burned to the ground.

[Windflier]

Hasn’t the sale of lead-based paint been illegal for 40-odd years?

Yes, and global warming stopped in 1998, but that minor detail didn't slow the greenies down one bit.

[shotgun]

I have 5 millennials working for me and the other day I was talking to 2 “old timers” about those classic commercials where the kid is eating paint chips. The kids as we call them were like “no way!” So I told them to check youtube. They couldn’t believe it.