Blood Lead Concentrations in Newark Children. Comment on Franklin R.C.; Behmer Hansen R.A.; Pierce J.M.; Tsitouras D.J.; Mazzola C.A. Broken Promises to the People of Newark: A Historical Review of the Newark Uprising the Newark Agreements and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School’s Commitments to Newark.

摘要

The recently published article of RC Franklin et al. in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health [1] provides a detailed historical review, beginning with the decades of the 1950s and 1960s, of health disparities of Black and Hispanic Newark, New Jersey residents that included substance abuse and sexually transmitted infections, as well as the highest incidence of tuberculosis and maternal and infant mortality in the United States. The manuscript also notes that current Newark residents continue to experience a high incidence of chronic diseases and deficiencies that include food insecurity, hypertension and strokes, diabetes, coronary artery disease, and loss of all their teeth. The article, however, does not describe another serious and glaring health disparity, the long history of high past and current blood–lead concentrations and lead poisoning in Newark children.