Lead Pollution and the Children of Port Pirie (From Stains on a White Collar: Fourteen Studies in Corporate Crime or Corporate Harm, P 143-159, 1989, Peter Grabosky and Adam Sutton, eds. -- See NCJ-122651)

• NCJ Number: 122660
• Author(s): R Fowler; P Grabosky
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: Federation Press (Distributed by Gaunt)
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

The history and health effects of the lead pollution at Port Pirie in South Australia shows how businesses may engage in lawful conduct that is not perceived to be harmful in view of the available knowledge and that later will cause significant and unforeseen damage to health, property, and the environment.

Abstract

During the century in which the world's largest lead smelter operated at Port Pirie, awareness of health problems to workers gradually grew and resulted in improvements in working conditions and industrial hygiene. Concern over the effects in children of low-level exposure to lead led to some blood testing of pregnant women, infants, and children starting in the late 1970's. Seven percent of the children had elevated blood lead levels. Both the government and the company have made efforts to reduce the contamination, but the long-term effectiveness of their strategies is open to question. Political and financial concerns appear to have dominated decisionmaking regarding strategies. Thus, the long-term prognosis for the health of the residents of Port Pirie is uncertain. 17 reference notes.