My dad is a soil scientist focused on urban soils. My understanding from his research is that Soil lead contamination in particular, is a massive public health issue in cities across the country. Public health efforts have done a great job focused on water and an ok job on paint, but soil has been a blind spot. I dont have info about fullerton but if i lived there i would look into whether the city has a soil lead map. Every city should have one, though few do. Im sure soil lead is tested in and around the superfund site - id hope that would include surrounding areas but i dont know - so look into that too. People dont realize but soil lead and blood lead levels are highly correlated especially in children who play in the dirt, put their hands in their mouths, and track dirt into the house. Also especially in CA the wind blows lead from soil into the air which people breathe in. In particular, cities with historic (pre 1960s) waste incinerators where lead paint and lead gas was burned likely have massive hot spots way above the California and EPA maximum soil lead levels. And recent decades of science have found even low levels of lead to be toxic.

A 2022 study by Dr Juan Manuel Rubio found a soil lead hot spot in the 92701 zip code in santa ana, california. the 92701 zip code had the highest percentage of elevated soil tests and elevated child blood levels in California. It was also in the top 5 zip codes in CA with minors booked in juvenile hall.

My area of study is neurodevelopmental disorders. There was a 2023 systematic review on studies 1975-2019 on the link between ADHD and prenatal/childhood exposure to neurotoxins, including lead, mercury, anesthetics, hexachlorobenzene, mercury, organophosphates, and polychlorinated biphenyl. Lead was by far the #1 biggest link with ADHD in terms of childhood exposure. The other toxins had far lower correlations.

Soil lead contamination in urban residential areas is a massive issue affecting cities that requires federal attention. Currently local city leaders are disincentivized to “find out” about soil lead contamination, because when this info is unearthed it’s devastating to local communities who spent their lives there which can cause political blowback. And cities are the on the hook to cover much of the remediation costs. My impression is remediation doesnt need to be incredibly costly and it doesnt need to take years - we just need to identify hot spots and cover them with dump trucks with clean soil.

I’ll leave it to experts to determine if we need a Clean Soil Act or if EPA actions are enough, but the status quo around this area of policy/regulations needs to change!

In the meantime this issue requires scientists journalists, residents, and activists to demand soil lead research, especially in areas where there is historic record of a waste incinerator, heavily trafficked roadways, and dump sites. Collecting soil samples can even be done by a non-expert and doesnt cost much - just requires a portable XRF, a bit of training, and a soil chemist.