"The Abell Foundation study found that as many as 85,000 homes in the city had “dangerous” levels of lead, and that remediation could cost billions."

"BALTIMORE, Md.—An estimated 85,087 occupied homes in Baltimore have “dangerous lead hazards,” according to a recent report from the Abell Foundation, a local public policy think tank. Fixing the problem would cost between $2.5 billion and $4.2 billion, the report said.

Meeting this need “would require vast resources from federal, state, and local funders, as well as coordination across different levels of government and the private sector,” wrote Luke Scrivener, the study’s author.

Lead is a neurotoxin that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has no known safe blood lead level in children. The potential consequences of being exposed to it are legion. The conditions lead has been linked to include, but are not limited to, ADHD, reduced IQ, anemia, seizures, renal failure and brain swelling. On the societal level, high rates of lead exposure correlate with increased crime and incarceration, lower earning potential, poorer academic performance and shortened lifespans."

Agya K. Aning reports for Inside Climate News May 19, 2022. [2]