Lead poisoning is a silent threat that continues to haunt Britain’s children, and the story of Becky Farrow and her family is a stark reminder of its devastating impact.
When Becky and her husband bought their dream home in Devon, little did they know that it would become a source of tragedy. The house, built in 1935, seemed like a perfect haven for their growing family. However, as they embarked on renovations in 2018, a hidden danger was about to unfold.
“Being parents, we wanted to create a safe and healthy environment for our kids. So, we started by decorating their rooms first,” Becky recalls. Little did she know that her well-intentioned decision to sand off the old paint would lead to a health crisis.
As time passed, Becky and her mother’s health took a turn for the worse. Becky developed psychiatric symptoms and chronic fatigue syndrome, while her mother faced kidney issues and high blood pressure. But the most alarming deterioration was observed in Becky’s son.
“He transformed from a happy, balanced child to a very sick one. He lost his appetite, regressed in his speech, and developed obsessive tendencies. At just seven years old, he even expressed suicidal thoughts,” Becky shares with a heavy heart.
Desperate for answers, Becky sought help from the NHS, but to no avail. It was a toxicology test of her son’s hair that revealed the shocking truth – high levels of lead poisoning. “I couldn’t believe it,” she says. Further tests confirmed that the paint in their home, including the doors, skirting, and ceilings, contained lead.
Becky realized that her children had been exposed to lead dust for months, and they might have even ingested it unknowingly. Lead paint has a slightly sweet taste, and there were traces of it everywhere. Her son, who frequently opened and closed his sanded door, seemed to have been more severely affected.
“The guilt was overwhelming. As a parent, protecting my children is my top priority. But I felt responsible for potentially poisoning them,” Becky confesses.
Lead, a metal with a long and controversial history, has been used by humans for thousands of years. Its malleability, ease of mining, and resistance to corrosion made it a popular choice for various applications. The Romans, for instance, used lead to plumb their cities, and the word “plumber” derives from the Latin word for lead, “plumbum.” Artists like Rembrandt celebrated its use in paints, and in the 1920s, a chemist at General Motors discovered that adding lead compounds to petrol improved engine performance.
However, we now know that lead is incredibly harmful to human health. Exposure to lead can trigger heart attacks, lower IQ, cause developmental delays, and lead to behavioral problems. Scientists believe that the introduction of leaded petrol in the 20th century may have contributed to a rise in crime, and its subsequent phasing out led to a decline in criminal activity.
In the captivating podcast “Untold: Toxic Legacy,” Financial Times reporter Laura Hughes investigates the UK’s failure to address lead poisoning effectively. Unlike the US, where children are routinely screened for lead, the UK lacks comprehensive testing protocols, and food lead testing is scarce.
Much of the lead poisoning today can be traced back to our homes. Britain has the oldest housing stock globally, and an estimated five to nine million houses still have lead pipes. Additionally, the country is dotted with over 6,000 former lead mines, which pose a significant threat.
Professor Mark Macklin, an expert on environmental metal pollution, explains that the problem extends beyond the mines themselves. Fine-grained mine waste has flowed downstream, accumulating in river channels and floodplains. “The last big mine around here closed around the end of World War I. Back then, there was no environmental regulation. The waste was simply dumped into the river, and it washed downstream,” he says.
Land contaminated by historical lead mining is still actively used. Families reside in houses built on contaminated land, and farmers raise animals on it. A recent study in 2023 found that eggs sold by small farms downstream from a Welsh mine contained such high lead levels that consuming just one or two eggs daily could lead to cognitive impairment in children.
Macklin has mapped the areas in the UK likely to be contaminated by lead, and he warns that climate change exacerbates the issue. As floods become more frequent and severe, lead that has lain dormant in floodplains is now on the move.
Macklin finds it frustrating that other countries take lead pollution more seriously, while in the UK, responsibility is often passed around. He attributes this to the problem being spread across different bodies. In Wales, for example, Natural Resources Wales manages the former mines, but local authorities are responsible for testing the floodplains downstream.
Macklin himself lives in a new-build on top of a hill, where he knows his land is safe from contamination. However, in 2012, many valleys in Ceredigion were flooded, and he immediately understood the implications.
“Last year, a scientist friend and I decided to offer soil testing to residents. We thought we’d get a handful of participants, but we ended up with 70 to 80 people. The results were concerning; many samples made me think, ‘Oh shit,'” Macklin shares.
Despite the severity of the issue, Macklin believes that lead pollution can be managed. “When there’s a major flood in any of the mining rivers in the UK, we should prevent cattle, sheep, and chickens from grazing on the affected land afterward.” His contamination maps are used worldwide, but local authorities in Britain seem uninterested.
There are, however, signs of change. Last week, letters were sent to 150,000 households in Leeds, inviting parents of children aged one to six to participate in a lead exposure screening program. It’s part of a pilot scheme that could be implemented nationwide. Professor Jane Entwistle, leading the project, hopes to test at least 500 children through a simple finger-prick blood test.
“People often ask why we want to know about lead exposure if its impacts are mostly irreversible. But we want to prevent further exposure. Early intervention is crucial,” Entwistle emphasizes.
For Becky Farrow, the lead exposure has shattered her life. “My family fell apart. I had to give up work due to my health and to care for my son. I’m getting divorced, and the stress has been overwhelming. I’ll never know which aspects of my son’s health issues are due to lead exposure and which would have occurred anyway,” she says.
Unfortunately, intervention doesn’t always occur even when lead exposure is reported. Jess Draper, a counselor who asked for her last name to be changed, moved into a 1940s council house in Bath with her three children two years ago, unaware of the lead threat.
“The house was in a dire state, so I started sanding the walls and banisters. It was only when I saw someone asking for lead test strips on social media that I decided to test my home. Everywhere kept coming out positive,” Jess recalls.
Her youngest child, who was two at the time, was particularly vulnerable. When she contacted the social housing provider, they were clueless about what to do. Eventually, a surveyor was sent, and all six samples from the house tested positive for lead.
Jess believes her son has been affected by the exposure, but her GP won’t test him unless severe poisoning symptoms are present. “He’s not growing well, and his behavior is concerning. I don’t want to label it ADHD, but he gets angry quickly,” she shares.
Jess wants GPs to offer lead testing to children at risk and believes properties should be routinely tested for lead to inform tenants and buyers. “I had never heard of lead risks before moving in. There’s a clear lack of awareness. We need to make lead the new asbestos,” she urges.
The story of Becky Farrow and Jess Draper highlights the urgent need for action against lead poisoning. While progress is being made, more needs to be done to protect Britain’s children from this hidden danger.
What are your thoughts on this issue? Do you think enough is being done to address lead poisoning in the UK? Share your opinions in the comments below!