The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
Our house was poisoning our son and we didn’t know how
A blood test at my son’s one-year well check showed elevated levels of lead. It was 2016 and potential lead poisoning was not on my radar. The test result sent my family down a rabbit hole of worry while trying to determine the source.
The Louisville Water Company quickly checked the water at our house and it came back clean. We threw away painted toys made outside of the country that we figured must be the culprit and then tried to relax. Three months later his lead levels tested even higher.
Lead is cumulative, meaning it continues to build in the system with daily exposure. In an ideal lead-free environment, the lead would have left my son’s blood in about a month, though it would stay in his bones for decades.
I thought back to house-shopping with my husband. The old house had good bones and character. I loved it as soon as we saw it. But now, our home was poisoning our son and we couldn’t figure out how. Turns out, we likely weren’t alone.
The federal government banned lead-based paint in 1978 but The Courier Journal’s five-month investigation showed that Louisville still struggles to eliminate lead poisoning in children.
Lead is an equal opportunity toxin. Old homes and apartments dapple the landscape in every Jefferson County neighborhood, regardless of socioeconomic status. Homes that predate the 1978 ban exist in our community by the tens of thousands. However, the burden weighs heavier on low-income neighborhoods where resources and options remain fewer.
My son’s story is one of privilege and luck. Our pediatrician screens every one of their patients as part of their 12- and 24-month well check appointments. Lead screening should not be left to luck according to which doctor does their due diligence but The Courier Journal’s investigation found that blood lead level testing for Jefferson County children declined by nearly 80% from 2006-20. Kentucky does not have a universal screening standard.
Metro Council has unanimously approved an ordinance that requires property owners to remedy lead hazards before leasing and it is due to take effect next year. However, real estate investors are concerned with how the new rules could hurt small property owners.
I look at my son and cannot believe that his health and the health of other children who will live in these homes are not prioritized in the minds of all landlords.
Phone calls to the health department
We lived in the Highlands when my son was poisoned. The house was built in 1900, but had been updated and remodeled. The paint had been latex for years and new windows had also been installed. A phone call with the Louisville Metro Department of Health and Wellness helped us identify areas we had overlooked. Varnish on the hardwood floors, like paint, also had lead in it until 1978. The health department also confirmed that we live in a neighborhood known for higher lead levels in the soil.
As the months ticked by each blood test showed our son’s levels steadily increasing.
I scoured the internet for information and ordered testing kits from Amazon. Soil tests confirmed high levels of lead and I thought of summer days spent gardening while my son explored the outdoors on all fours.
Lead soil contamination comes from car exhaust when leaded gasoline was the standard. It also comes from exterior lead paint chipping off and landing in the soil near the house.
Once lead is in the soil, it’s always in the soil. There’s no getting rid of it. The less you do to it the better. Bury it. Encapsulate it. But don’t kick it up.
It’s not just paint. Louisville’s soil also contains lead
Maggie, our bloodhound, and my son were best buddies. The pets felt like ground zero. The health department instructed us to wipe the dog’s paws every time she came in from outside and to plant more grass seed. They said to keep our indoor-outdoor cat, George, inside with a litter box.
Anyone who has ever tried to keep an outdoor cat inside will understand the insanity that comes with a cat that just wants out. George moved in with my mom.
We tested walls, floors, the fireplace, antique furniture, jewelry, everything we could think of — it all tested lead-free. We called a professional cleaning crew for a deep clean followed by regular cleanings to minimize soil contaminants.
Another follow-up test showed lead levels still creeping higher and this time our son was also anemic. Lead leaches iron. A supplement was ordered. By the third liquid dose it required us to hold our baby down and squirt it into his mouth while he gagged and screamed. It smelled the way your hands do after playing with coins in your pocket.
I tasted the supplement to see for myself. It was like drinking a nickel. And the taste stayed in my mouth the rest of the day. It stained my son’s teeth and clothes. He was paying for the environmental mistakes of the past. Still, other than the soil, we couldn’t pinpoint another source.
Then one morning, it dawned on me.
The lead had been under our noses the whole time
We kept the curtain on the front door window lowered because our dog would jump up on it anytime someone came near it. I thought the curtain kept it protected. But my son also waved bye-bye to dad every day through that window.
With my son in my arms, I pulled the cord on the curtain and found chipped paint around the glass, bare wood exposed. It was the original front door. I grabbed a fresh tester and snapped the middle to release the chemical. I rubbed it on the paint. Red equaled lead. It had literally been under our noses this whole time. We ordered a new door. Until it arrived, no one was permitted to use the front door and I kept our son out of the entryway.
The next round of bloodwork showed a slight decrease in lead levels, confirming we were doing the right things. And the bloodwork following that showed no signs of anemia.
Our son is 8 years old now and healthy. His lead exposure never escalated to the point of causing developmental or behavioral issues and we no longer live in that old house. We are lucky.
Thousands of children in Jefferson county could still be living in the homes that poison them. Without landlord support or medical intervention they will not fare as well as my son. Every child deserves to live in a toxin-free home. Federal funding for lead poisoning prevention decreased in 2012 but lead poisoning is not a thing of the past. What’s more, many of our punitive reactions to childhood behavioral issues may very well be horribly misplaced.
Children in poverty already have a steep hill to climb. They do not need to add unsafe housing to their hardships. Louisville must not allow landlords to chip away at this ordinance to protect their pocketbooks. And the state of Kentucky must put mandatory screening requirements into place for every child. Our children are worth it.