May 26, 2009 8:15 pm US/Eastern
Gardening Dangers: Brooklyn Soil May Have Lead
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Summer is here, so it's a good time to plant a garden, but in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, the fruits of your labor could end up making you sick.
Resident Robert Dick is worried that the soil his young children play in and where his tomatoes and lettuce grow might be contaminated with lead.
"We're primarily concerned with our children's health, but also our own health too," said resident Robert Dick.
According to Prof. Joshua Cheng at Brooklyn College, everyone growing a garden in the five boroughs should be concerned about lead poisoning.
"It is pretty common in urban areas to have high levels of lead in soil," he said. "We have been using so much leaded gasoline so it has been deposited in the soil, and we have used too much of leaded paint."
In his lab, Cheng and his team have been testing soil samples sent in by Brooklyn residents. Some mail in half a pint of dirt.
Others like Ralph Selitzer of Canarsie brought in soil from different sections of his yard. "I hope it still is perfectly safe, however we'll find out."
Not only can people ingest lead by eating fruits and vegetables they plant, they can get poisoned by simply working with contaminated soil.
"When you working the garden you have dust dirt, gets into your clothes, gets into your body," Cheng said.
Root vegetables like carrots and potatoes absorb more lead than those that grow above ground. But if you have a high level of lead in your soil, the best thing you can do is replace it.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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