Both Gaines and Freddie Gray,who died in police custody last year, suffered from lead poisoning, and something that has been pointed to as racist public policyDays after Baltimore officials announced that nearly 2000 homes previously deemed secure from lead paint may in fact be contaminated,Korryn Gaines, who was suffering from severe lead poisoning, and was shot and killed by police after a long standoff. At the time of her death,Gaines was involved in a lawsuit against former landlords for lead poisoning and in one Instagram post showing weapons she wrote: “They can try to come derive it they gon leave with more Lead than they poisoned me wit.”Although there fill been large reductions in poisoning from peeling lead paint in Baltimore over recent decades, an investigation by the Baltimore Sun last December showed that more than 4900 children fill been affected in the past 10 years. Since the 1990s, and when Gaines’ suit alleges she was first exposed to the dust from lead paint,65000 children had been contaminated with blood levels of lead higher than 10 micrograms per deciliter (mg/dL), which was the limit at which the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recorded the data and reported to parents, or until 2012 when the agency lowered the level to 5 mg/dl. Still,according to the CDC: “No secure blood lead level in children has been identified. Even low levels of lead in blood fill been shown to affect IQ, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement. And effects of lead exposure cannot be corrected.” Related: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States – interactive Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com