The toll lead takes on Mt Isa's infants

AN international expert has found some children in Mount Isa are suffering from brain damage and retardation caused by prolonged lead exposure.

Mount Isa mother Sharlene Body, with son Sidney, whose blood-lead level is three times the WHO threshold. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

AN international expert has found some children in Mount Isa are suffering from brain damage and retardation caused by their prolonged exposure to lead.

His reports - commissioned by five families suing mining giant Xstrata, the Queensland government and the local council - are the first scientific evidence of the effect on children of lead pollution from the hardrock mine and smelters in the central Queensland town. Queensland Health testing found in 2008 that 11 per cent of Mount Isa's children - aged between one and four years - had dangerously high levels of lead. The testing was ordered after The Australian revealed evidence of metal contamination of soils and water. A follow-up study, to be released this year, has so far determined that about 5 per cent of children still have blood lead levels above the international and Australian safety limits. This is despite a crackdown on the mine's emissions and an education campaign on how to limit exposure.

Queensland Health chief medical officer Jeannette Young yesterday contradicted previous claims by Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata, which took over the mine in 2003, that much of the poisoning was due to a naturally occurring presence of lead in the town. "I do know the cause; it is emissions being released from the mine," Dr Young said. "If you think where it is coming from, it is coming from emissions from the smelter that are going up in the air and they are depositing across the town fairly evenly."

The new medical reports have focused on two children - Sidney Body, 5, and Bethany Sanders, 4, - who recorded the worst lead poisoning. Sidney had a blood lead level of 31.5 micrograms per decilitre - three times the international safety limit - while Bethany posted 27.4mcg/dL.

Theodore Lidsky, an adjunct professor of neuroscience at City University of New York and the co-author of 11 books on the effects of metals on the human body, has been engaged by the families who are suing over alleged negligence. He found that both children had brain damage and that the only explanation was lead poisoning.

In the case of Bethany, who was first discovered to have lead poisoning at just 20 months, Dr Lidsky said tests concluded that she was "mentally retarded".

"The present evaluation of Bethany Sanders revealed a young girl with an overall level of intellectual functioning in the extremely low range and overall level of adaptive functioning in the low range," he said in his report. "Taken together, a child with Bethany's IQ and level of adaptive functioning is considered to be mentally retarded. . . . Consideration of her (Bethany's) medical history identifies lead poisoning as the only neuro-developmental risk factor in her background."

Dr Lidsky's report on Sidney came to similar conclusions. "The present evaluation of Sidney Body revealed a young boy with an overall level of intellectual functioning in the borderline range and overall language functioning in the extremely low range," he said. "Indeed, Sidney's blood-lead level was more than three times the threshold set by the WHO and more than six times the level now known to adversely affect neurocognitive development in children." The Queensland government-led Living with Lead Alliance has warned parents to keep the home free of dust, wipe down counter tops and mop floors, keep children out of the dirt and feed them a healthy diet.

"I have always kept my house very clean and we have always had a good diet," said Sidney's mother, Sharlene. "But how do you keep kids out of the dirt all the time?"

The mother of four said the legal suit had divided the community, with some accusing her of being a "blow-in" and an opportunist.

"I was born and raised in this town, it is my home and the region is my people's land," she said.

"My dad was born here soon after the mine was started up, and to hear that accusation disgusts me. I just want this town to be made safe and my child to be supported."

Bethany's mother, Sharnelle Seeto, and partner Mick Sanders moved to the town in 2006 from their native Norfolk Island to grab a piece of Australia's mining boom. They moved to Brisbane soon after receiving results of Bethany's blood screening.

Ms Seeto said Bethany was receiving learning support in the hope she could go to prep school.

"But she is slow, she understands bits and pieces but we have to really work on her," Ms Seeto said. "In the past six months, she has been able to ask for what she wants - like milk - but she usually has to point to a visual card."

The lawyer for the five families, Damian Scattini of Slater & Gordon, said the reports confirmed the "devastating effects" that lead poisoning can have on children.

In a statement, Xstrata Copper North Queensland's chief operating officer, Steve de Kruijff, said the company took the issue "very seriously".

"We know there is lead in Mount Isa, but what these reports cannot say is the cause of the lead levels in these children," he said.

"Xstrata has commissioned an independent lead pathways study to investigate potential sources of lead in the community from both natural and industrial sources.

"Xstrata has never exceeded regulatory limits for respirable lead at any air monitor in the Mount Isa community since acquiring Mount Isa Mines in 2003."