Immigrant Leaders Speak Out On Lead Poisoning

Each day at dawn, "Jorge" is picked up by a van and dropped off at homes, where he strips old paint off  houses and replaces it with shiny new paint. It wasn’t until Jorge became ill that he realized each time he scraped the paint, he was inhaling lead dust – and bringing it home on his clothes to his children.

A new initiative in Somerville and Framingham is working to prevent lead poisoning among immigrant workers and their children, particularly among those working in the construction industry.  Funded by the Massachusetts Attorney General through a settlement from two toy-makers, Immigrant Leaders Against Lead Poisoning will engage construction workers as leaders in promoting lead safety.

"There are a lot of painters removing old paint and getting exposed to lead," said Jonny Arevalo, an organizer with MassCOSH’s Worker Center. "Too often painters don't know about lead paint hazards and are not provided with adequate protection, all of which makes them more vulnerable."

Exposure to lead also makes the children of construction workers vulnerable. Children are at risk of lead poisoning from lead brought from the workplace to the car and home. In one national study of 50 young children of construction workers, more than one-fourth of the children had elevated blood lead levels, as compared with just over 5% of the children of control subjects. 

“People should be able to work their way out of poverty without making themselves or their children sick,” said CAAS Latino Program Coordinator Ismael Vasquez. “The immigrant Leaders project will be an opportunity to inform and teach immigrant workers about their rights and learn about what lead poisoning can do to their children.”

The Immigrant Leaders Against Lead Poisoning project brings together the Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS), the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) and the Metro West Worker Center. The groups will also partner with the MetroWest Free Health Clinic and Cambridge Health Alliance to ensure that workers and their children can obtain testing and treatment.

“Barriers of language and limited access to health care contribute to the high levels of lead overexposure of immigrants working in painting and demolition,” said Wanderson Reis of the Metrowest Worker Center's Workers Council.  “The Immigrant Leaders project will help ensure that workers are well aware of the real consequences to their own health and that of their families.”