Battery Recycler Says Tests Show Normal Blood Lead Levels

A Frisco battery recycler that paid for blood testing for nearby residents says that most of the test results so far show normal blood lead levels.

New federal air-quality standards fueled fears about the levels of lead in the air in Frisco. The Environmental Protection Agency announced last month that a 1.6-square-mile zone around the Exide Technologies Inc. recycling plant was in violation of lead pollution standards.

Exide decided last month to pay for blood testing for people who live near the plant to alleviate health concerns.

"We wanted to make sure Exide is a company that if anybody felt concerns about elevated levels of blood lead as a result of our operations here at the facility, that it's not a concern," plant manager Don Barar said.

Exide said Monday that results are in for two-thirds of the more than 200 tested.

All of those 157 test results are below the Centers for Disease Control's actionable level and 90 percent of them show significantly low levels of lead.

"I didn't think there was a risk, but I'm glad we checked," said Dr. Vicki Davis, a physician who has had a family practice in Frisco for 25 years.

Davis, who performed the tests, sad she has treated nearly everyone in Old Town, including Exide employees.

"It should have exhibited itself by now with the plant being here as long as it's been here," she said.

The plant has been in Frisco for longer than an overwhelming majority of the city's population. The battery plant originally opened in 1964, and Exide took over the facility in 2000 to recycle old car batteries.

Exide said it will continue to pay for blood lead level testing for anyone who wants it. The company also said it has made great strides in controlling its emissions in the last two years and says that new technology and filters will mean even cleaner emissions in the future.


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