Why am I doing this?
I get asked why, a lot.
I want you and everyone you know, to live the best lives possible, and this starts with health. - Garret Roy
I am doing this because not enough is being done!- I have watched as lead has prisoned my community.
As a child I watched our community health and wondered why everything seemed so bad. The problem is complex and there are many factors. Our society’s health is not attributed to only one thing, it’s so much deeper than that but as one person, I can’t solve all the worlds problems. I found myself in a situation which made the effects of lead exposure obvious. I worked with people day in and day out who had been exposed to lead. I watched the chaos and the suffering. For years, I ran away from this reality. “Someone will do something, right?” Maybe, but not soon enough. This caused physical strain, in which I developed an array of symptoms. I ended up overworking myself, and developing carpal tunnel, tendinitis, golfer’s elbow, and tennis elbow, in both arms. I had to do something, otherwise it would eat me.
In my research, I found that information on lead poisoning is fragmented, and hard to digest. So much of it is buried under layers, in studies, with misinformation common. The symptoms of lead poisoning are ubiquitous in our society and often overlap with common, everyday health issues, making it easy to dismiss as just another part of life. But these symptoms are anything but ordinary they are indicators of something deeply wrong.
We live in a world where modern complexities only add to the confusion. Lead is not just found in paint and old pipes; it is used in fuels, found in the dust blowing around town, products we use, and in the soil our kids play in. It’s a silent player in a range of health conditions that many people don’t even associate with it. The real issue is, most people don’t fully understand how deeply this problem affects their lives, because it’s not always easy to see or connect the dots. Without knowing the basics, they can’t protect themselves. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
How can someone truly realize their potential in life if they've been chronically impacted by a toxic substance that has slowly impaired both their mind and body? How can they rise above the challenges lead poisoning creates when it’s so ingrained in our society as “normal”? The even bigger question is: How can I raise awareness when so many people are chronically affected yet believe its a problem of the past? Or even worse, a product of our economic system in which these troubles are not limited to lead…
I decided to conduct independent lead testing, in my own home and around the community. The results shocked me. I found lead in just about every sample taken. Even worse, the windowsill of my own room had a lead level of 156 µg/ft2 which is 3.9X the EPA standard for hazard action! This felt directly personal; there was no escape. [1]
I searched high and low, hoping someone was already tackling this problem. Hoping there was some progress, some light at the end of the tunnel. But what I found was painful. The voices of those addressing the problem were often underfunded, overshadowed by bigger news stories, or outdated research that suggest the “safe” level of lead is exceedingly high. I came across reports that downplayed the crisis, claiming that the removal of lead from gasoline was the "end of the problem." Even worse, it became apparent that industry spends a tremendous amount of advertising effort downplaying these problems. Even locally some of the worst offenders in my town were being labeled as "low emissions," with claims that we have nothing to worry about. This misinformation keeps people in the dark and allows the problem to persist.
As the years pile on, we continue to poison and do nothing to stop it. As a society we are cause-blind. We fail to educate our people on the dangers of inaction and as a whole we suffer the consequences.
However, this is not the end, and we are not alone. In the time since I started this work, there are more and more people advocating for community health! More and more people out there making a difference in this world in their own individual way. It is tremendous and I am so happy to see what these great people have to offer! Here at Lead Free Futures, we pledge to continue in our own way. Raising awareness of the troubles of lead, and helping normal people on the path to Live the best lives they possibly can!