Pollution expert says SA Health has tried hiding extent of lead poisoning in Port Pirie children in its report
SA Health has tried to hide the extent of lead poisoning in Port Pirie children that its latest scientific report has revealed.
SA Health has tried to hide the extent of lead poisoning in Port Pirie children that its latest scientific report has revealed.
A media statement loosely based on the report has “hoodwinked” the public into believing that lead poisoning had stabilised when the report found the opposite was the case, Macquarie University pollution expert Professor Mark Patrick Taylor says.
SA Health releases half-yearly reports into blood testing of Port Pirie children, but a media statement issued with the January-June 2015 report this month falsely stated that “blood lead levels have remained steady’’.
The scientific report clearly states this is not the case. It reads: “The average blood lead level of children aged 24 months tested in the first six months of 2015 is 6.6 ug/dL (grams per decilitre) which has increased by 1.3 ug/dL compared to the same reporting period last year’’.
Professor Taylor said the false media statements were “hoodwinking at best’’.
“When you look at these statements and the way they have constructed the statements, it all reads like a favour to the industry,’’ he said.
“The way it has been presented is all to the advantage of the industry.’’
The pollutions’ source, the Nyrstar smelter, has been in operation since 1889, but has been under threat because of a difficult business environment and a need for investment.
The media statement also falsely states the percentage of Port Pirie children who tested below the national exposure level was 52.5 per cent, although not all children living in the city were tested in the first half of 2015, skewing data.
SA Health has provided blood lead screening since 1984 to monitor and help reduce children’s lead levels.
A spokeswoman for SA Health did not accept that the scientific report had been misrepresented in the media statement.