DANGERS IN OUR BACKYARD
DANGERS IN OUR BACKYARD
By Guadalupe Rosales & Maria Reyes
Cassell Community is located in East San José in the area commonly known as Sal Si Puedes. The majority of us are Latino or Asian, and many of us only speak one language.
To complicate matters more, we live next to Reid Hillview Airport—an airport that has continued to grow and grow without concern for the families living in this community.
This airport uses single piston airplanes. These airplanes have used a fuel called UL 94 which comes from Indiana and is lead-based.
“...an airport that has continued to grow and grow without concern for the families living in this community.”
Our children have been exposed to this lead. This exposure leads to learning difficulties, fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite, a decreased ability to pay attention along with other learning disabilities.
In adults, lead causes high blood pressure, joint and muscle pain, difficulty with memory and concentration, hearing loss, headaches and other illnesses.
Back in 1996, Congress passed a law called The Clean Air Act. This law eliminated the use of lead in all cars. However, this law did not apply to these single piston airplanes.
“Our children have been exposed to this lead. ”
More than forty years later, after much community involvement, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors finally commissioned a lead study. The study was conducted by Bruce Lanphear, MD and Sammy Zahran, PhD.
This study revealed that depending on the wind direction, our children tested higher for lead levels than the children involved in the Flint Michigan water crisis.
“...our children tested higher for lead levels than the children involved in the Flint Michigan water crisis. ”