In February, experts and activists in Pittsburgh came together for a panel discussion on the local and global impacts of lead in the community. The panel event was held in conjunction with the national exhibit This Lead is Killing Us: A History of Citizens Fighting Lead Poisoning in Their Communities, on display at Falk Library through March 22, 2024. HSLS co-hosted the event with the School of Public Health.
As a timely coincidence, the panel happened immediately after a visit by Vice President Kamala Harris to Pittsburgh, with the announcement of a $5.8 billion investment to replace lead water pipes in drinking water lines. In attendance at the announcement was panelist Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis, executive director at Women for a Healthy Environment. She jetted over to Pitt’s campus for the panel and expressed that Pittsburgh is “a great place to visit because we have a lot to share, to showcase, and to celebrate.” One initiative that actively shares information with the community is Get the Lead out Pittsburgh, which utilizes its social media presence. Naccarati-Chapkis also co-founded the Lead Safe Allegheny coalition and serves on the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority’s Community Lead Response Advisory Committee. The audience learned of the many resources that are available to concerned residents, schools and daycare centers, and more in Allegheny County for lead testing and remediation.
Panelist Dr. Marcela González Rivas, associate professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), reflected on how the history of lead in the U.S. has a global impact. Lead pipes that are removed from the U.S. are often recycled in Mexico, India, and many other places because of their value. Even with the well-known risks of lead exposure, these places have minimal environmental standards. She states, “It gets very complicated – there’s different agencies, there’s different levels of government.” González Rivas was joined by GSPIA students Ariana Scott and Kevin Bertha, members of the Closing the Water Gap Working Group, who presented recommendations to improve global impact. The webinar Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Exporting U.S. Lead Water Pipes and Solutions to this Environmental Justice Problem provides more extensive discussion of this topic.
The moderator of the event was Dr. Tina Ndoh, associate professor of Environmental and Occupational Health in the School of Public Health. She also serves as the Associate Dean for Practice and Director of the Center for Public Health Practice.
~Julia Dahm