The Baltimore NAACP is working with local and congressional leaders to investigate a federally-funded lead abatement experiment that put specially treated soil into the backyards of nine Baltimore families apparently without the knowledge of local leaders, a move that has raised questions about the impact of the project on those families.
   
"Why is it that whenever there's an experiment, it involves us?" said Marvin "Doc" Cheatham, Baltimore NAACP branch president.

Cheatham announced a news conference for 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at Union Baptist Church in Baltimore to formally call for a full investigation in what it called the “Urban Sludge” experiment and possible other experiments in black poor communities.

Last week, the Associated Press reported that scientists using federal grants spread fertilizer made from human and industrial wastes on yards in poor, black neighborhoods in 2000 to test whether it might protect children from lead poisoning in the soil. Families were assured the sludge was safe and were never told about any harmful ingredients.

According to the story, 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.

The participants were not identified, and AP said there was no indication, based on documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, that there was any medical followup.

In a joint statement released last week in response, the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University, which conducted the study, said the compost that was spread on the yards was a product commercially available at lawn and garden stores and that the neighborhoods targeted in the study were known to have potentially risky levels of lead in the soil around the homes. The results were published in 2005 in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

The statement also said several community leaders were involved in the process and that families were educated about lead abatement techniques. It did say, however, that researchers did not test any children living in the houses at the time of the study.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, has agreed to conduct a hearing, and Maryland senators Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin are expected to participate. In addition, Rep. Elijah Cummings is calling for a congressional hearing, Cheatham told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

Despite the statement from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins, Cheatham said the experiment was conducted without the knowledge of local officials.

“There was no knowledge in the health community, by representatives of that district, including our senators and congressman, and this was done by HUD," he said. "It could be that no one got hurt in all of this. But then, why the secrecy?”

The joint statement said that the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition briefed the community before the study began and that the organization’s “Greening Committee” formally approved the study.

Cases like the one in Baltimore are typical of “eco-equity” issues with which the black community must contend, said Jahadi Imani, executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, California, which is dedicated to not only addressing environmental health issues, but helping minority communities attain economic equity in the growing green development movement in urban America.

Black Americans, he said, should begin looking at careers in the green economy, which Imani says is the fastest-growing area of jobs creation. There is a backlog for green construction, such as the installation of solar panels, waterless urinals and solar water heating system.

“It’s a growing industry, and there often are not enough workers,” Imani told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

On a more immediate level, African-Americans need to be more involved in the environmental protection and development of their communities. Many black Americans, Imani said, don’t have equitable access to clean air and water; they live in neighborhoods that abut freeways with no barriers to mitigate vehicle pollution.

As a result, he maintained, “you have shortened life spans, birth defects and low birth weights. There’s research on learning difficulties, and young people who grow up in ecologically depressed communities do more poorly because of brain development issues.”

It is important, Imani said, that black Americans become involved “in any and all development in their community, the impact of a new building, a freeway, an on/off ramp and push for mitigating factors. Join an organization that is fighting to protect and strengthen the community.”

Michael Johnson, state director of the Black United Fund of Greater Maryland, who brought the lead issue to the attention of the NAACP, said poor black communities often are adversely affected because their leaders as not as proactive as the leadership in other neighborhoods.

Additionally, because of other issues that tend to overwhelm the leadership of urban centers, even local officials can be unaware of what’s going on in their cities. That’s what happened in Baltimore, Johnson said.

“We didn’t know. The health department didn’t know; the city didn’t know; our congressman didn’t know; our senators didn’t know and, obviously, the person over in the next block didn’t know either,” he said.

Johnson told BlackAmericaWeb.com that when he contacted Johns Hopkins and Kennedy Krieger seeking details about the lead project, he ran into a dead end. “I asked. 'Where did this happen?' and it was, ‘I can’t tell you.’ 'Well, how many families were involved?' ‘I can’t tell you.’ What kind of medical work was done? It’s always been ‘I can’t tell you.’”

Johnson said he had people out in the field in the area where he believes the project may have been conducted to see if he could find the families who participated. He and Cheatham were on a Baltimore radio show Sunday night talking about the issue, but so far, no one has come forward.

Earth Day is a perfect day to effect change, Imani said.

“Get out and talk to your neighbors, people in your community," he said. "Make it a stronger community; that’s the first step. People don’t dump trash in their own front yard, but somebody’s yard they don’t know. You may see it happen and say nothing about it. Then one day, you may speak up. People should not only be kinder to the earth, but kinder and gentler to other earthlings.”