Lead contamination can have a devastating and life-long impact on those who are exposed, including unborn infants. For families living in the South Australian town of Port Pirie, protecting against the risk of lead poisoning, is a harsh reality for expectant parents. The town’s key employer is a lead smelter and experts warn that despite a 10-year program to reduce exposure risk to babies and children, blood lead levels are too high.
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00:00With three children and another on the way, Adriana Porcelli has plenty of jobs keeping
00:10her busy.
00:11But top of the list for this Port Pirie mother is protecting her family from lead poisoning.
00:18When they go outside they've got to wear their crocs or their slides and then when
00:22they come back inside they have to take their shoes off and come and wash their hands straight
00:26away with non-negotiable before every meal.
00:28Porcelli uses a special detergent to remove toxic metals and hangs clothes inside away
00:34from lead in the air.
00:36Preparing the nursery has also required careful consideration.
00:40We've made sure that the air conditioning vents in that room, they all have cardboard
00:46on the other side just to make sure that the lead doesn't come through the air conditioning
00:49vents.
00:50Port Pirie is home to one of the largest lead smelters in the world.
00:56It's been operating for more than 130 years resulting in ongoing lead contamination in
01:02the community.
01:03Dr Cynthia Barlow has researched the relationship between lead in air and blood lead levels
01:10of children in Port Pirie.
01:13The main impacts that you hear about are the decrement in children's IQ and this also tends
01:21to impact on them behaviourally and in their performance at school.
01:26Unborn babies are also at risk.
01:29It's also possible for the mother to pass lead on to the child.
01:34I found it incredibly overwhelming on top of already an overwhelming time.
01:39When Sophie Buchnall moved to the town she didn't know how serious childhood lead exposure
01:44could be until she became pregnant with her first baby.
01:49According to the World Health Organisation, lead can affect multiple body systems and
01:54is particularly harmful to young children and women of childbearing age.
01:59Despite following all available advice, her daughter still returned a high blood lead
02:05level.
02:06I think they're probably fighting a losing battle.
02:08I don't know what else can be done.
02:11The National Health and Medical Research Council recommends blood lead levels greater than five
02:18micrograms per deciliter should be investigated.
02:22The latest SA Health report found two-thirds of children in Port Pirie have levels higher
02:29than the investigation level.
02:31That's definitely causing them damage that's going to follow them through their life.
02:36The targeted lead abatement program run by smelter company Neostar and the SA Government
02:42has been in place for more than a decade.
02:45The sort of assistance we might provide would be an assessment of lead sources at the home
02:49and possibly remediation work to remove or cover those lead sources.
02:53Executive Peter Dolan says he isn't satisfied with the levels currently being detected in
02:59Port Pirie's children.
03:01We'll always be concerned when there's blood lead levels in children are too high and they're
03:05still too high.
03:06SA Health declined an on-camera interview and did not respond to specific questions
03:12about the parents' health concerns.
03:15But in a statement said a caseworker is provided to every pregnant woman to give advice on
03:21how to minimise exposure to lead dust.
03:24Dr Barlow said SA Health's initiatives are helpful but the emission of lead is constant
03:31and everywhere.
03:33It's really not fair to put the responsibility on the individual and the parents to be protecting
03:42children from something, a problem they're not creating.
03:45A burden parents continue to carry.