Zoe Kenny
The release by the South Australian government in December of the latest blueprint to reduce lead pollution in Port Pirie signals yet another chapter in the long, half-hearted effort by SA authorities to mitigate the impact of the town's lead smelter.
Port Pirie, a town with 14,000 residents, located 230 kilometres north of Adelaide, has long been plagued by lead pollution. For almost 100 years the town has been home to a lead smelter. Today, the Zinifex (previously Pasminco) smelter is the largest in the world, processing 320,000 tonnes of lead-rich ore per year, bringing its owners $400 million per year in sales of metal products (mostly lead but also smaller amounts of other metals).
In 1984, it was found that 98% of young children in Port Pirie exceeded the safe blood lead level. The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council has set a standard "level of concern" at 10 micrograms of lead per decilitre of blood. Blood lead levels at or above the "level of concern" interferes with the development of organ systems, in particular the central nervous system, which affects babies and children more as their bodies are still rapidly developing. This interference can cause intellectual impairment, and it is estimated that for every 10 micrograms a decrement of 1-3 intelligence quotient (IQ) points can occur.
The effect of lead contamination from the smelter on the residents of Port Pirie has been disastrous. A typical example is that of Roslyn Cook and her daughter Samantha. They were two of 1000 claimants in a class action against Zinifex that was launched by the Sydney law firm Coleman and Greig in 2000.
Samantha, eight years old at the time, suffered from memory loss, brain damage, learning defects and respiratory problems. Roslyn also suffered health problems.
The class action eventually came to naught, being rejected on technical grounds, first by the Federal Court and then the Victorian Supreme Court, with the law firm forced to pay Zinifex's legal costs.
The first Port Pirie Lead Implementation Program (PPLIP) was launched in 1984 with a goal of reducing the extremely high blood lead levels. However, almost two decades later, after millions of dollars had been spent by the government and Zinifex and after PPLIP Mark II had been launched in 1994, the percentage of young children with excessive blood lead levels had only been reduced to 55% by 2001. In the two years leading up to the release last December of PPLIP Mark III, entitled Future Focus and Directions, the percentage of young children with blood lead levels above the level of concern had actually increased to 60%.
The PPLIP initially started under the assumption that the emissions from the smelter were at a reasonable level and that the main problem was the historical contamination of the area. This resulted in the current polluting activities of the smelter not being heavily scrutinised.
The main means of dealing with the lead pollution was the "decontamination" of houses in "high-risk" areas (suburbs close to the smelter and other suburbs that are downwind of the smelter's emissions) through the removal of accumulated lead and lead-based paint. Regular, sometimes industrial strength, cleaning of those houses was also implemented.
There was also a heavy emphasis on changing the personal behaviour of residents. The parents of young children were encouraged to maintain high levels of personal hygiene in children so as to minimise their ingestion of the lead that covers everything outside and builds up in residents' homes.
The 2005 PPLIP recognises the limitations of those measures — that as a result of "persistent and ongoing" emissions "houses are bathed in a constant 'sea' of lead", which makes attempts at "decontaminating" houses ineffective, and also that a focus on changing the personal behaviour of residents is ineffectual and can lead to "blaming of victims". However, it does not advocate any significant changes.
In fact, the report goes so far as to call the PPLIP "an environmental success story". The presumption seems to be that protecting Port Pirie residents' health is possible simply through better management of the pollution — through community education, monitoring of high-risk children and support services, minor modifications of houses (such as filling gaps) and a diligent approach to cleanliness inside them.
When it comes to real solutions, such as paying for the relocation of poor families out of the high-risk areas into the more low-risk areas, there is a consensus between the government and company that this would be too expensive.
As for shutting down the smelter (as has been done with lead smelters in many other countries), this is simply not a "viable option" according to SA health minister John Hill. The PPLIP states: "In comparable situations overseas smelters have closed (such as the Zvecan lead smelter in Kosovo which was closed down with the intervention of the United Nations) as part of efforts to reduce children's blood lead levels. In contrast, Port Pirie has sought a collaborative solution with industry and the community."
The fact that the SA Labor government is proud of lagging behind international standards in protecting residents' health only shows its subservience to corporate interests.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, March 15, 2006.
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