The Unequal Burden of Urban Lead

His mother remembers the window he loved so much. It was at the back of the house she was renting in northeast Baltimore, the house where her son, Deshawn Fisher, was born in 1993. This particular window was in Deshawn’s bedroom, and as he grew from an infant to a toddler, he enjoyed watching the world outside through the glass.

The frame of that same window was covered in flaking lead-based paint. By the time Deshawn was two years old, the level of lead in his bloodstream registered 11 micrograms per deciliter—six micrograms higher than the five-microgram poisoning threshold instituted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2012. As Fisher grew up, he developed behavioral problems and ADHD. His IQ level was seven points lower than it should have been, the results of a baby’s life around lead dust and paint chips.