Toxic Legacy documents Americans’ exposure to toxic chemicals in their everyday lives, and how these poisons threaten both people today, as well as future generations. In the case of mercury and lead, we demonstrated the persistent danger of chemicals that were supposed to have been removed from our environment years ago, and how toxins spewed into the environment decades ago linger in our homes, our rivers, our food and even our own bodies.
While recent attention has focused on lead in toys, we showed that one in four children live in homes with deteriorating lead paint dust, and that hundreds of thousands of children show symptoms of lead exposure. We also explained how the lead stored in our bodies leaches out at critical times of life — including pregnancy and lactation — and poses a risk to children in their earliest weeks of life.
Another story explores the health and environmental impacts of methyl mercury in seafood, mercury emissions from U.S. coal-burning power plants and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Mercury Rule. Our analysis of the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory showed that coal-burning power plants are actually emitting more mercury, and that this exposure contributes to 400,000 babies being born each year with irreversible brain damage.
In our series on endocrine disruptors, we examine a class of ubiquitous, pernicious chemicals that defy the standard rules of toxicology and which could have unknown effects on our children and grandchildren. A consumer-oriented sidebar provides help in reducing exposure to these chemicals. A science-oriented sidebar explains how endocrine disruptors appear to work.
In each case, we examined efforts to clean up the environment — as well as efforts to avoid change.
As a service to readers, we included detailed maps in print and interactive maps online to show which power plants emit the most mercury. We also provided a help consumer guide to avoiding toxins in home and beauty products, as well as tips for chemical-free cleaning.