Louisiana experts are disputing newly published findings that high concentrations of lead in the poorest and oldest parts of New Orleans posed significant risks to residents, even before hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

A multidisciplinary research group of 11 scientists from Texas Tech University published the report, “Lead distributions and risks in New Orleans following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” in the May 14 online issue of the Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Published by the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, it is a highly regarded academic journal.

The Texas Tech research group, with Michael T. Abel and George Cobb as lead authors, studied 128 sampling sites of soil across New Orleans and combined their findings with data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They found that 15 percent of the samples exceeded the regulatory threshold for safety, with the highest concentrations of lead found in the oldest and poorest parts of the city.

In one sample, the team reported 8,000 micrograms of lead per gram of soil, 20 times the safety threshold of 400 micrograms per gram.

But Louisiana government specialists said the findings are misleading.

LuAnn White, consulting toxicologist for Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals, made a distinction between lead found in soil and lead-based paint, which more commonly results in lead poisoning.

She said children would have to consume large amounts of soil for it to be harmful in most cases. However, they are more vulnerable when exposed. Children absorb 48 percent of lead when ingested, compared to a 5 to 8 percent absorption rate for adults.

White added that blood-lead levels in New Orleans residents have actually declined since the hurricanes.

When lead-based paint chips in older homes, the protective varnish falls off and lead is exposed, White said. The silver lining of the hurricanes, White said, was a reduction in blood-lead levels in children as a result of the destruction of many older homes.

Tom Harris, administrator of remediation services in the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, also said the findings were inaccurate. He said that he has seen no indication of abnormal arsenic levels in New Orleans samples, and that he has never seen an area with levels of lead concentration close to 8,000 micrograms per gram.

Harris agreed with the study’s finding that high concentrations of lead are more likely in poorer areas of the city that contain older homes, but he also noted New Orleans is a “checkerboard,” with more affluent households interspersed with poorer ones. Older homes tend to have lead paint, he said.

Cobb said in a release that the findings were important since lead in soil posed a significant risk to residents who returned to their homes following evacuation, especially children.

But White said issues with lead in soil become a problem only if rebuilders don’t follow the rules of proper lead abatement, causing lead dust to be released.

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