Displaced Notre Dame parishioners celebrate Easter
Thousands crowd nearby Saint-Eustache Church for mass honoring firefighters who saved Notre Dame Cathedral; Molly Line reports from Paris.
Pregnant women and children living around Notre Dame Cathedral are being urged to undergo blood testing after officials revealed residents are at risk of lead exposure.
In a statement released Wednesday by the French health agency, Agence Regionale de Sante, a child living within blocks of the Cathedral was discovered to have a blood lead level above the regulatory limit.
“The fire of Notre-Dame in Paris is at the origin of lead pollution near the cathedral,” the ARS stated in the press release.
NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL FIRE BEING INVESTIGATED AS ACCIDENT FOR NOW, PROSECUTORS SAY
The agency also concluded after weeks-long testing that the air quality in the local region was not at risk of lead contamination, and the areas with contaminated soil would be depolluted in the coming week.
The agency’s most recent statement contradicts their earlier research, which only encouraged local pregnant women and children to “follow simple hygiene measures,” such as washing hands regularly and cleaning children’s toys.
In this image made available on Tuesday April 16, 2019 flames and smoke rise from the blaze after the spire toppled over on Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. (AP)
The government is also facing pressure from environmental groups who claim the city have ignored their responsibilities and significance of the fire.
SLIDESHOW: NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL CATCHES FIRE
“After the melting of at least 300 tons of lead in the gables of the spire and in the roof, Notre-Dame is now a polluted site,” Environmental group Robin Des Bios, which translates to Robin Hood, stated in a press release.
The group also claimed, “the health and potential environmental risks in the heart of the city of several million inhabitants, workers, and tourists have been forgotten and put aside.”
The Parisian child diagnosed this week held a lead level of 50 micrograms per liter of blood. According to the EPA, even a low level of lead in a child can lead to behavioral and learning problems, lower IQ, slowed growth, hearing problems, and anemia.
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The ARS plans to inform the families who participated in their testing about the results in the next week.
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