Santa Monica Airport (SMO), Leaded Avgas, and

Childhood Blood Lead Levels: Profound Pediatric

Health Consequences

© Charles L. Blum 2021

[Editor’s note: originally published on 4

th

September 2021 (without references) in the Santa Monica

Daily Press (SMDP) newspaper at https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-airport-smo-

leaded-avgas-and-childhood-blood-lead-levels-profound-pediatric-health-

lead level increases in children downwind from the site are similar to those seen in the Flint,

Michigan, Water Crisis.”

1

This was particularly impactful due to other studies by the County

of Santa Clara: Office of Communications and Public Affairs found essentially that the leaded

avgas created significant risk and that even a little lead is still too much.

2,3

A 2010 study by the United States National Emissions Inventory found that leaded aviation

fuel emitted “from aircraft using leaded aviation gasoline (avgas) is currently the largest

source of lead in air in the United States, constituting about 50% of lead emissions in the

2005 National Emissions.”

A more recent 2021 study is suggesting that the avgas emissions

Miranda et al note that, “A study at the Santa Monica airport in California found that the

highest lead levels occur close to airport runways and decrease exponentially with distance

from an airport, dropping to background levels at about 1 km.”

utilized, “… geographic information systems to approximate areas surrounding airports in

which lead from avgas may be present in elevated concentrations in air and may also be

deposited to soil.”

exposure to lead emissions from avgas and blood lead levels in children, especially within 1

km.

8-11

12-14

low as 2 µg/dL can have significant impacts on academic performance as measured by end-of-

grade test scores. Brink et al that found the proportion of children with blood lead levels ≥ 10

μ g/dL was 1.24% in the highest air lead counties, and the proportion with blood lead levels ≥

10 μ g/dL was 0.36% in the lowest air lead counties.

15

In response to this body of research, the CDC has stated that there is no safe level

for blood lead in children.

16

Internationally the trend in leaded gasoline elimination and improvement in childhood blood

17

In Korea a study was performed to verify a change in the longitudinal trend of blood lead

levels for the Korean population, before and after the regulation of leaded gasoline, which

occurred between 1987 and 1993 in Korea. That study concluded, that regulation of leaded

gasoline significantly contributed to the rapid change in blood lead concentrations.

18

In

Madrid Spain a study evaluated intelligence quotient (IQ) of local children exposed to leaded

gas and determined that a decrease in blood lead levels in these children prevented a loss of

between 135,391 and 144,153 IQ points. Their study assessed the current economic valuation

of these points in terms of the productivity gained throughout the working life of this cohort of

distance we must factor in that most incoming flights are over the region covering these

schools and the west to east ocean breeze, most common in these areas, would expectantly

move greater amounts of airborne lead emissions eastward towards these children.

Pre-schools closest to SMO are Stepping Stone Child Care and Preschool, Bright Horizons at

Ocean Park, and Hill and Dale Family Learning Center. Of note both Bright Horizons at

Ocean Park and Hill and Dale Family Learning Center are well within the toxic lead emission

1000-meter distance and are therefore these young children are under constant exposure.

At this point what is irrefutable:

fuel at SMO puts the onus of responsibly for any subsequent health related consequences for

the adjacent pediatric population, squarely on the shoulders of the City of Santa Monica and

SMO.

The City of Santa Monica is not alone in this challenging situation since the “Santa Clara

damage and permanent harm while the federal government takes however long it may take.”

There is now a clear consensus that “significantly reducing lead emissions from gasoline-

powered aircraft will require the leadership and strategic guidance of the Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) and a broad-based and sustained commitment by other government

agencies and the nation’s pilots, airport managers, aviation fuel and service suppliers, and

aircraft manufacturers…”

The City of Santa Monica and SMO can no longer pretend that they are not aware of the

References

2. Bruce Lanphear. Why Even a Little Lead is Still Too Much. RHV Study. County of

3. Mountain Data Group. Leaded Aviation Gasoline Exposure Risk at Reid-Hillview

6. Piazza B. Santa Monica Municipal Airport: A Report on the Generation and Downwind

9. Chiodo LM, Jacobson SW, Jacobson JL. Neuro- developmental effects of postnatal

10. Lanphear BP, Dietrich K, Auinger P, Cox C. Cognitive deficits associated with blood

12. Miranda ML, Kim D, Overstreet Galeano MA, Paul C, Hull A, Morgan SP. The

13. Miranda ML, Kim D, Reiter J, Overstreet Galeano MA, Maxson P. 2009.

14. Miranda ML, Maxson P, Kim D. Early childhood lead exposure and exceptionality

15. Brink LL, Talbott EO, Sharma RK, Marsh GM, Wu WC, Rager JR, Strosnider HM. Do

16. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). 2005. Preventing Lead Poisoning in

19. Ordóñez-Iriarte JM, Guillén-Pérez JJ, Bodas-Pinedo A, Aparicio-Madre MI, Martínez-

21. Committee on Lead Emissions from Piston-Powered General Aviation Aircraft. A