LOCAL

Exide employees in Muncie reportedly exposed kids to lead

Seth Slabaugh
The Star Press

MUNCIE — A local pediatrician and the Delaware County Health Department informed state officials last year that Exide Technologies workers tracked lead home on their clothing, exposing their children to the toxic metal.

The Exide Technologies battery recycling plant on Mt. Pleasant Blvd. near Cowan Road Friday afternoon. The state contends Exide Technologies failed to appropriately notify environmental agencies following three explosions at the plant in February of 2017.

During a recent public comment period on Exide's application to renew its operating permit for five years, local pediatrician Robert Byrn told the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM):

"Although I consider myself extremely pro-business, I am concerned with the large number of patients I see who have elevated serum lead levels and also a parent who works at Exide."

The local health department made a complaint on June 20 to IDEM about "a recent increase in the amount of elevated blood lead level cases" reported to local health officials.

"Several of these cases have revealed connections to the Exide plant, and we believe that this business's activities are a likely source of this lead exposure," Brodie Cook, director of the health department's environmental health division, reported to IDEM in a complaint obtained by The Star Press.

In a report dated June 30, an IDEM inspector quoted the health department as saying children of two Exide employees required medical treatment for lead poisoning.

Health department tests "indicated that lead levels were high on the driver's side floor boards, etc., of the vehicles the employees use to go to and from work," the inspector wrote. "Lead was found at the employees' residences along the paths walked from the vehicle parking areas to areas inside their homes, i.e., areas typically used by the employees upon returning home."

No other sources of lead, such as lead-based paint, lead water pipes or lead-contaminated dust in older buildings, were found in the homes.

The Exide secondary lead smelter on the south side of Muncie recycles millions of lead-acid automotive and other batteries. Primary lead is mined. Secondary lead is recovered from spent batteries.

Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of lead; even low levels of exposure can cause adverse effects including poor academic performance and behavioral problems that might be irreversible, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Exide's housekeeping and hygiene requirements are supposed to control employee lead exposure at work and before they leave work.

"These requirements include having clean and dirty locker room areas and showering before leaving the facility," the IDEM inspector wrote. "However, based on observations made during the inspection and statements by Exide representatives, it appears cross-contamination occurs in the clean and dirty areas of the facility."

The inspector asked Exide to review its employee decontamination procedures and also referred the matter to the Indiana Occupational Health and Safety Administration and to the local health department for further action.

Exide declined comment for this article.

► State complaint reveals explosions at Exide factory

Federal privacy rules protecting medical records and other personal health information limit what Cook can say publicly about the health department investigation.

But he told The Star Press that "we do have cases involving the children of Exide employees, as well as other industrial sources. We are actively working with these families to educate them on the risks of lead exposure, as well as potential routes of entry specifically related to the parents' place of employment. We're also working with Exide and the Indiana State Department of Health to detect other potential and yet-unidentified cases … In order to manage a problem effectively, we must first be able to measure it accurately."

Lead intoxication especially increases the risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, lower IQ,  behavior problems and hearing and speech problems, many symptoms of which won't show up until long after exposure, according to Dr. Byrn.

" … one thing that's changed is that the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics now agree that there is no safe level of lead in the bloodstream, so … we now want that level to be zero," Byrn told The Star Press.

He was one of many Muncie residents who asked IDEM to conduct a public hearing on Exide's permit renewal. IDEM took written requests and provided lengthy, detailed responses with numerous links to inspections, lead air-emissions data, national standards, violations, monitoring, and other information on Exide. The public hearing was denied.

" … there are numerous sources of lead intoxication within our community — older homes with lead-based paint, lead pipes, the industrial base within our community," Byrn said via email. "Working in an industrial plant that handles lead-based material is a risk factor. I'm hoping that over time and with better data we'll be able to answer whether living in proximity to the plant places children at increased risk. Exide's reputation in other communities suggests that our concern is justified."

► Exide fined $820,000 for Muncie pollution

Seth Slabaugh can be reached at (765) 213-5834 or seths@muncie.gannett.com.