Ethical issues in using children's blood lead levels as a remedial action objective

S.M. Moodie and E.L. Evans

American Journal of Public Health, 2011, vol. 101, issue SUPPL. 1, S156-S160

Abstract: The Environmental Protection Agency measures the success or failure of Superfund site remediation efforts against remedial action objectives (RAOs). RAOs are frequently based on environmental contaminant concentrations, butwith lead exposure, blood lead levels from the population at risk are often used. Although childhood lead screening is an important public health tool, an RAO based on child blood lead levels raises ethical concerns: public health efforts that are more reactive than preventive, a blood lead standard (10 lg/dL) that may not be fully protective, the use of a measure whose validity and reliability may be easily compromised, and exacerbation of environmental injustice and systematic disadvantages. The example of Bunker Hill mine,Kellogg,Idaho,allowed an examination of these ethical concerns.

Date: 2011
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300226

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2011.300226_7

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300226

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().