Document Type
Article
Publication Title
The Conversation
Abstract
On Sept. 3, 1973, a fire swept through the baghouse of the Bunker Hill mine in Idaho’s Silver Valley. The building was designed to filter pollutants produced by smelting, the melting of rocks that separates metal from its ore. The gases produced in this process carried poisons, including lead.
At the time, the prices of lead and silver were climbing toward all-time highs. Rather than wait for new filters and repairs, company officials kept the mine running. They increased production, bypassed the filtration steps and, for eleven months, dumped noxious gases directly into the surrounding area.
Then, horses in the area began dying.
When data on children’s blood lead levels began to arrive in September 1974, one year after the fire, the results were shocking. The fire became one of the largest single lead-poisoning events in U.S. history.
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.64628/AAI.556w3497k
Publisher
The Conversation
Publication Date
8-30-2023
Keywords
lead poisoning, public health, pediatric lead exposure, industrial pollution
Disciplines
Nursing | Pediatric Nursing | Public Health and Community Nursing
ISSN
2201‑5639
Recommended Citation
Schiavenato, Martin, "50 years after the Bunker Hill mine fire caused one of the largest lead-poisoning cases in US history, Idaho’s Silver Valley is still at risk" (2023). Nursing Faculty Scholarship. 6.
https://repository.gonzaga.edu/nursingschol/6
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.