Who We Are

Mission Statement

The Get the Lead Out Coalition is a group of parents, UTEP faculty and students, El Paso Community College, community leaders, neighborhood groups, schools and school children  and concerned citizens, whose mission is to;

•  Protect the health of border residents in El Paso, Texas, Ciudad Juarez, and Southeastern New Mexico, and,

•  Encourage community dialogue to prevent the reopening of American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) and to promote sustainable growth for El Paso that is ecologically and economically sound

Collectively, the GTLO Coalition will hold public officials accountable for their action or inaction in safeguarding the health of border residents, will utilize medically accurate data to document the health damage resulting from ASARCO's operations, and will use governmental and industry information to expose the history of environmental damage from ASARCO and motivate our citizens to make a difference in our quality of life.

We believe El Paso deserves better.

Background

In 2001, an El Paso Times newspaper article stated that high levels of cadmium, arsenic and lead had been found in soil samples taken near the Sun Bowl stadium. State Senator Eliot Shapleigh requested advice from a group of local health, environment and academic officials. Subsequently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began sampling soils in residential areas and identified properties which exceeded the allowable levels for lead and arsenic.

Lead poisoning can affect nearly every system in the body. Because lead poisoning often occurs with no obvious symptoms, it frequently goes unrecognized. Lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and, at very high levels, seizures, coma, and even death. Several studies have shown that arsenic can increase the risk of lung cancer, skin cancer, bladder cancer, liver cancer, kidney cancer, and prostate cancer.

Established screening level of 24 parts per million (ppm) of arsenic and 500 ppm of lead have been used in many contaminated sites across the county. In El Paso , however, the allowable screening levels were raised from 24 ppm to 46 for arsenic, and an increase from 500 ppm to 640 for lead has been proposed, in spite of objections from Senator Shapleigh, researchers, health officials, and concerned citizens.