Exploring Racial and Economic Disparities in Exposure to Airborne Lead from Industrial Facilities in Kentucky, USA

Abstract Background: Exposure to harmful lead is a critical public health concern due to its toxic nature and widespread distribution in the environment. Given the fact that policy solutions in the past several decades have significantly decreased the risks of environmental lead exposure, a remaining threat is toxic lead emissions from industrial facilities. This study examined the racial and economic disparities in proximity to lead-releasing industrial facilities and the concomitant lead exposure in Kentucky in the U.S. Methods: We applied unique geospatial analysis methods including distance buffer, location quotients, and population-weighted exposures to analyze the spatial patterns of lead-releasing industrial facilities and lead exposure concerning environmental injustice between blacks and whites and between the below-poverty and above-poverty populations. Pearson’s linear correlation and paired samples t-test were performed to examine the statistical significance of racial and economic inequalities measured by distance to polluting facilities, lead concentration, and population-weighted exposure to lead. Results: We identified a negative correlation between percent of the population that was black and distance to Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) sites (r = -0.240, p <0.001) and opposite results were observed for whites (r = 0.284, p <0.001). Likewise, median household income was positively associated with distance to TRI facilities (r = 0.197, p < 0.001) while poverty rate was inversely related to distance to TRI facilities (p = -0.189, p <0.001). Moreover, blacks and the below-poverty group had larger mean population-weighted lead exposures than whites and the above-poverty group respectively although the mean differences for each pair was statistically insignificant. Conclusions: Results of this study provide new evidence supporting the environmental injustice proposition that assets low-income and ethnic minorities are more likely to reside in the vicinity of toxic-releasing industrial facilities and are therefore disproportionately exposed to airborne lead. Findings can help promote the need for reduced national ambient air quality standards for lead releases and mitigate environmental injustice.