The Washington Post - 07.08.2019

B2 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 , 2019

ed to the problem at a routine

checkup in May, when she regis-

tered a lead level of 35 micro-

grams per deciliter. Most c hildren

who are born in the United States,

as Vaishnavi was, have a lead level

below three.

The turmeric was the only sub-

stance the baby actually con-

sumed. But health officials told

her parents that sediment from

the makeup and jewelry also

probably made its way from her

hands and into her mouth.

In the weeks since Maryland

health officials visited their h ome,

the couple have swapped out their

daughter’s gold bangles for plas-

tic ones, substituted CVS-bought

Maybelline makeup in place o f the

Indian powders they once used

for the bindi on her forehead, and

tossed their old spices in favor of

new products from Costco.

At her most recent blood test,

Vaishnavi recorded a lead level of

16.

Rachakulla is relieved but said

more needs to be done.

“The information has not

spread. It was first-time informa-

tion for us,” said the 39-year-old

software engineer, who moved to

the United States in 2008. “If we

knew, we’d be the first to shout it

out aloud.... There needs to be an

alarm.”

In recent weeks, Rachakulla

has tried to warn other South

Asian immigrants in his neigh-

borhood and at his workplace

about the risks of lead contamina-

tion from imported products. He

confronted the owner of one of

the Indian grocery stores he fre-

quents about the turmeric but

said all he got was a half-believing

shrug.

In R achakulla’s experience, im-

migrant families are not hesitant

to part ways with tradition once

they realize there are health risks.

The challenge, he said, is that

people often find it hard to believe

that items so deeply rooted in

their cultures can be dangerous.

“This needs to be addressed as

a serious, serious thing,” Ra-

chakulla said, sitting in his apart-

ment with Vaishnavi beside him.

“I want it to be seen as a problem.”

[email protected]

of lead poisoning that dispropor-
tionately affect immigrant com-
munities whose members un-
knowingly bring in contaminated
products from their home coun-
tries.
“We were very, very shocked,”
Rachakulla said in an interview at
his home in Gaithersburg, Md. “I
have never known that these
things would have been contami-
nated with impurities.”
Some products containing
lead, such as kajal, have been
banned by the Food and Drug
Administration but can still be
purchased at specialty grocery
stores or brought by travelers
from overseas. A 2010 report from
the World Health Organization
found that 19 percent of all the
herbal products manufactured in
South Asia and sold in South
Asian grocery stores in Boston
contained lead.
From as early as 1991, medical
journals have reported cases of
elevated lead levels in immigrant
communities across the country.
These tend to be isolated inci-
dents, however, and do not often
elicit a strong or broad-based re-
sponse from local officials.
The problem is “not something
that is an epidemic but [is] cer-
tainly very persistent,” said Lance
Chilton, a medical toxicologist
from Albuquerque who worked
on a case similar to Vaishnavi’s in
2013.
Aparna Bole, the chair of the
American Association of Pediat-
rics’ Council on Environmental
Health, agreed, adding that lead
poisoning from imported prod-
ucts is a well-described issue
among pediatricians but not par-
ticularly well known among par-
ents.
Kelly Johnson-Arbor, the co-di-
rector of the District’s National
Capital Poison Center, said she
sees at least one incident a year of
children of immigrants poisoned
with lead-contaminated import-
ed products. Health officials in
Fairfax and Arlington counties
reported two to four such cases
annually, often involving families
who emigrated from South Asian,
Middle Eastern or African coun-
tries. Sources can include makeup
products, spices and glazed kitch-
enware.
Montgomery County officials
said county data does not suggest
a higher incidence of lead expo-
sure in any particular racial or
ethnic category. In 2017, the total
number of lead poisoning cases in
the county was so low that it did
not qualify for additional state
funding for dedicated outreach
programs.
Vaishnavi’s parents were alert-

LEAD FROM B1

The administration’s search

for extra shelter space under-

scores the intense backlash in

recent months over the squalid

conditions in crowded federal

shelters at the border, where visi-

tors have described seeing un-

bathed children wearing clothes

caked with snot and tears, tod-

dlers without diapers and teen-

age mothers in clothes stained

with breast milk.

Last month, a report from the

Department of Homeland Secu-

rity’s Office of Inspector General

found “serious” overcrowding at

U.S. Border Patrol detention cen-

ters in the Rio Grande Valley of

Te xas, where the number of unac-

companied minors apprehended

— most of them arriving from

Central America — jumped

62 percent in 12 months to nearly

24,000 in May.

“The current migration flow

and the resulting humanitarian

crisis are rapidly overwhelming

the ability of the Federal Govern-

ment to respond,” a Homeland

Security official said in a memo

responding to the report.

The Office of Refugee Resettle-

ment is charged with finding

longer-term shelter for unaccom-

panied minors and, where possi-

ble, reuniting them with relatives

in the United States after con-

ducting background checks.

The agency funds about 170

shelters in 23 states, with about

8,700 unaccompanied minors in

those facilities.

In Virginia, about 130 unac-

companied minors are being

housed in the commonwealth’s

two largest federally funded shel-

ters — Youth for To morrow in

Prince William County and the

Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Cen-

ter in Staunton, immigrant advo-

cates say.

The GSA solicitation says the

administration is looking to lease

close to 110,000 square feet for 15

years in an area that includes

Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and

Prince William counties, plus the

smaller cities that surround those

jurisdictions.

The lease is part of a plan by

HHS to build permanent shelters

in parts of the country where

relatives of unaccompanied mi-

nors already live in hopes of

eliminating the need to rely on

temporary shelters when the flow

of migrants at t he border sudden-

ly escalates, officials said.

Once completed, the “Virginia

Residential Child Care Facility”

would begin housing the children

next spring, officials said.

The shelter would have a staff

of 147 people and would be

equipped with classrooms, sleep-

ing areas and an extra two acres

of outdoor space for recreation,

the solicitation said. Bids for the

lease are due Aug. 13.

The announcement caught lo-

cal government officials and im-

migrant advocates by surprise.

Sharon Bulova (D-At Large),

chairman of Fairfax County’s

Board of Supervisors, said she

was “puzzled,” given Northern

Virginia’s expensive lease rates.

“This is one of the most expen-

sive parts of the country, much

less, in Northern Virginia, we are

the most expensive part of the

state,” Bulova said.

But, she said, “there are many

nonprofits and charitable organi-

zations in this area that would be

glad to be supportive, I’m sure.”

Immigrant advocates said the

idea of one large shelter for unac-

companied minors is worrisome.

“The notion that the same level

of care could be provided at a

440-bed facility as at a 100-bed

facility is a little hard to imagine,”

said Simon Sandoval-Moshen-

berg, legal director of the Legal

Aid Justice Center’s Immigrant

Advocacy Program.

Sandoval-Moshenberg said the

Trump administration should be

working harder to reunite unac-

companied minors with relatives

here.

“There are more cases that are

taking forever, hundreds and

hundreds of days,” he said. “We

don’t believe that they would

need facilities of that nature if

they would more efficiently use

the facilities they currently have

by releasing more kids more

quickly.”

[email protected]

SHELTERS FROM B1

Md. family wants hidden lead sources publicized

Solicitation

surprises

advocates,

officials

Some of the jewelry once worn

by Vaishnavi Rachakulla, left,

is suspected of contributing to

the baby girl’s elevated lead

levels. Recent tests indicate

that those levels are decreasing.

PHOTOS BY CAROLYN VAN HOUTEN/THE WASHINGTON POST

MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST

A whirl on the dance floor

Jennie Harlow, 26, practices for a moment during a Waltz Time event in the Spanish Ballroom of Maryland’s Glen

Echo Park this week. The twice­monthly dances, held since 1995, include lessons and are open to people of all skill

levels, no partners required. The restored 1933 art deco building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

BY MARTIN WEIL

In Washington, the most im-
portant fact of daily life may
sometimes be whether a summer
thunderstorm passes overhead or
not. Rain inundated parts of the
area Tuesday night, but in other
places, not so much.
In the immediate Washington
area, the severest impact ap-
peared to be in Montgomery
County, as roads were flooded,
trees were toppled, and power
went out. Around 9 p.m., Pepco
reported that 4,800 homes and
businesses in its service area
lacked electricity. A bout 900 were
in Montgomery, near Bradley
Lane and Wisconsin Avenue in
the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area.
A river of overflow and runoff
surged across Bradley Boulevard
near Kendale Road in the Poto-
mac area, said Pete Piringer, the
spokesman for the county fire
and rescue service.
In Baltimore, city streets were
flooded and lightning caused
what the city fire department said
was a three-alarm fire in houses
on Greenmount Avenue.
But it was possible to miss
most or all of the storms. Partici-
pants in a long-running protest
outside the White House report-
edly performed an “anti-rain”
da nce, described on Twitter as
briefly effective. “Thunder and
lightning, but not a drop of rain,”
a tweet said at one point.
[email protected]

Rain hits

hard in

D.C. area

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correct response.

For Good Folk: Free Tickets to The Waifs

on August 15 at The Birchmere

The Australian folk trio featuring sisters Donna Simpson & Vikki Thorn and

co-bandleader Joshua Cunningham marked its 25th anniversary just two years

back with Ironbark , a 25-track double album. It’s a collection of “intimate,

heartfelt songs that move at the speed of a road trip.” (RollingStone.com)

“Where there’s a will there’s The Waifs.” (AdelaideReview.com.au) See details at

washingtonpost.com/postpoints, Events & Contests.

Catchy Tune: Specially Priced Tickets to Jim James —

The Order of Nature: A Song Cycle on September 4 at

The Kennedy Center

Th e eclectic frontman and founder of indie-rock band My Morning Jacket will team up

with conductor Teddy Abrams for a special performance of the orchestral song cycle

The Order of Nature featuring vocal chorusTheCapital Hearings.The first half of the

evening will feature Mason Bates’s “Warehouse Medicine” from The B-Sides , Julia

Wolfe’s “Big Beautiful Dark and Scary” and Aaron Copland’s “Four Dance Episodes”

from Rodeo. See details at washingtonpost.com/postpoints, Coupons & Discounts.

We love summer produce, but it can

go bad fast. Why?

(Hint:The answer is in Becky Krystal’s story on the first page

of today’s Food section.)