News

TARGET: Poor neighbourhood

SCIENTISTS have used poor black neighbourhoods in Baltimore to test fertilizer made from human and industrial waste without telling families it could be harmful.

UNITED STATES

SCIENTISTS have used poor black neighbourhoods in Baltimore to test fertilizer made from human and industrial waste without telling families it could be harmful.

An Associated Press investigation showed that scientists, backed by Government grants, spread the sludge in various yards without telling families that it had harmful ingredients. Scientists wanted to test whether it might protect children from lead poisoning in the soil and assured the families it was safe.

Nine low-income families in Baltimore row houses agreed to let researchers till the sewage sludge into their yards and plant new grass. In exchange, they were given food coupons as well as the free lawns as part of a study published in 2005 and funded by the Housing and Urban Development Department.

There is no evidence there was ever any medical follow-up, the AP said.

It found that comparable research was conducted by the Agriculture Department and Environmental Protection Agency in a similarly poor, black neighborhood in East St. Louis, Ill.

There have been concerns raised by researchers, who said the sludge put the children at less risk of brain or nerve damage from lead, a highly toxic element once widely used in gasoline and paint.

Published: 28 April 2008
Issue: 1318

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