Lead Poisoning In Our Water Under Control? Not With Cables Leaking Lead All Over The Country

 Lawmakers are now demanding that telecom firms act to ensure that Americans are safe after a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that phone companies have left behind a network of cables covered in toxic lead, tainting water and soil in some locations. Sen. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a letter last Tuesday (to USTelecom, the industry group representing telecom companies, including giants AT& T and Verizon)

“This is corporate irresponsibility of the worst kind,”  

What are the lawmakers like Sen. Markey barking about? Verizon and other telecom giants have left behind a sprawling network of cables covered in toxic lead that stretches across the U.S., under the water, in the soil and on poles overhead, a Wall Street Journal investigation found. As the lead degrades, it is ending up in places where Americans live, work and play.

 

The lead can be found on the banks of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, the Detroit River in Michigan, the Willamette River in Oregon and the Passaic River in New Jersey, according to the Journal’s tests of samples from nearly 130 underwater-cable sites, conducted by several independent laboratories. The metal has tainted the soil at a popular fishing spot in New Iberia, La., at a playground in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., and in front of a school in suburban New Jersey.

 

Ironically, while the U.S. has spent decades (and tens of millions)  eradicating lead from well-known sources such as paint, gasoline and pipes. The WSJ investigation revealed a hidden source of contamination— more than 2,000 lead-covered cables—that's been ignored by the companies as well as environmental regulators. These include relics of the old Bell System’s regional telephone network, and their impact on the environment, haven’t been previously reported.  According to the WSJ report:

"Lead levels in sediment and soil at more than four dozen locations tested by the Journal exceeded safety recommendations set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."

 

For decades these scofflaw telecom companies have known about the lead-covered cables and the potential risks of exposure to their workers, according to documents and interviews with former employees. They were also aware that lead was potentially leaching into the environment, but haven’t meaningfully acted on potential health risks to the surrounding communities or made efforts to monitor the cables.

  

Did they do anything? Hell no. They just led cancers spread at a rate, as well as other health problems including: damage to the central nervous system in children, as well as kidney, heart and reproductive problems in adults, according to U.S. health agencies. Even without further exposure, lead can stay in the blood for about two or three months, and be stored in bones and organs longer.

According to former EPA official l and director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Linda Birnbaum:

 

"These findings suggest there is a significant problem from these buried lead cables everywhere, and it’s going to be everywhere and you’re not even going to know where it is in a lot of places,”

Get set for another cratering health debacle, even as millions lose their Medicaid in the coming months.

See Also:

 The Cancer Industrial Complex: The Biggest Conflict of Interest in Medical History 

And:

Flint Water Debacle - Yet Another Result Of Our Crumbling Infrastructure 

And:

Mark Ruffalo & Bill Maher Expose Degraded State Of Our Water