Dartmouth Medical School Researchers Discover Heavy Metal Contamination In North...( beapproximately 40 mcg/dL. Anythi...)

be approximately 40 mcg/dL. "Anything over 20 mcg/dL is harmful to children," he said. For infants and young children, lead exposure has been shown to decrease intelligence (IQ) scores, slow their growth, and cause hearing problems. Exposure to high lead levels can badly damage the brain and kidneys of adults and children.

Sargent also fears that the levels of cadmium and arsenic exposure are higher than what's safe. "The cadmium levels in Torren are higher than have ever been reported at industrial sites," he says. "Cadmium causes permanent damage to your kidneys and it is not easily excreted from the body." Cadmium also causes lung damage such as emphysema, as well as hypertension and osteoporosis. A suspected carcinogen, Cadmium increases the risk of lung cancer and prostate cancer.

Arsenic causes neurological and liver damage and has been shown to cause skin cancer. Inhaled arsenic can increase the risk of lung cancer -- this has been observed in humans exposed to high levels of airborne arsenic in or around smelters.

"We are very concerned by the levels of contamination in these areas, especially because the smelters are surrounded by residential neighborhoods," said Madeline Dalton, PhD, another DMS researcher on the study. "It suggests that these industries have not been adequately monitored for environmental safety. Clearly, further investigation is warranted."

The smelter in Torren, a manufacturing and mining center with a population of about 500,000 people, is the largest nonferrous metallurgical complex in Latin America and the fourth largest in the world. The smelter in Chihauhua, historically a prosperous mining center, has been inactive since 1990. Samples from Monterrey were collected near an active lead crystal factory and an inactive lead refinery. Monterrey, a city of 3 million people, is a commercial capital in norther
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Contact: Laura Carter
Laura.Carter@Hitchcock.org
603-650-7041
Dartmouth Medical School
10-Mar-1999

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