Study Finds Increased Lead Exposure in Children Living Near California Airport

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are parked on the tarmac after being grounded, at the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, Calif., on March 28, 2019. Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images

A new study from Colorado State University found that lead levels in the blood of children living near airports are higher due to the leaded gasoline of aircraft.

According to the study, 4 million Americans live within about 547 yards (500 meters) of an airport that has aircraft using leaded fuel, and 170,000 such aircraft are in use nationwide.

The study recorded 14,000 blood lead samples from children younger than 5 years old residing near one such airport, the Reid-Hillview Airport in Santa Clara County, California.

The study found that lead in the blood increased as proximity to the airport was increased. More specifically, children east and predominantly downwind from the airport had increased lead levels.

An increase in lead in blood samples was also detected in relation to an increase in aircraft traffic.

Another observation was that when the airport traffic decreased in Santa Clara during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, the lead levels in blood samples decreased.

The main author of the Colorado study, Sammy Zahran, works for the Department of Economics of Colorado State University and for the Department of Epidemiology of the Colorado School of Public Health. He is also associated with the Mountain Data Group in Colorado. The study was funded by the County of Santa Clara, California.

Permission to analyze blood lead was granted by the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch of the California Department of Public Health. Databases were queried for the desired data—an indication of residence in Santa Clara (and subsequent geo-location using Google), dates of a blood draw within the last 10 years, date of birth, and a reported blood-lead value.

A Southwest airplane takes off at the Tampa International Airport in Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 19, 2022. Octavio Jones/Reuters

Background

About 600 K–12 schools are also located within 547 yards of airports, according to the study. Half a million pounds of lead is emitted into the environment as a result of aircraft using leaded fuel.

Lead is needed in aviation fuel for aircraft engines to function properly. The study claims that aviation gasoline is the primary lead-emission source in the United States.

In recent decades, however, the blood lead in American children has been significantly reduced, due to the removal of lead from paints, plumbing pipes, food cans, and from automobile gasoline.