In a north Hacienda Heights neighborhood surrounding the only operating lead smelter in the county, thousands of adults and children may have absorbed excessive levels of brain-damaging lead into their bloodstreams.

But many may never know because only a handful have had their blood tested for lead.

The lack of people being screened has led blood-lead testers to launch a blitzkrieg in the area, fanning out in the community and going to schools and day care centers to draw blood from anyone who gives consent.

The hope is to increase sample sizes and get a better picture of the public health of the community surrounding Quemetco, a battery recycling plant at 720 S. Seventh St. in City of Industry.

Testing blood for lead

“Our idea is to take the sampling program to you,” said Dr. Mary McDaniel, vice president of Intrinsik Environmental Sciences Inc. in Venice.

McDaniel is an occupational and environmental physician who specializes in the effects of chemical pollutants on the body. She and her team were hired by Quemetco to perform the blood lead level testing.

She will set up shop Thursday at the Steinmetz Park Health Fair and Concert in the Park. The event runs from 6 to 8 p.m. but McDaniel vows to be there longer if necessary.

Quemetco has received numerous violations from the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, including two that the lead-acid battery recycler is fighting. As a result, the DTSC in late May began testing soil for lead and arsenic within a one-quarter-mile radius, taking in more than 360 homes and dozens of commercial properties.

But in its last report on Aug. 31, the DTSC had only tested 115 residential properties, about 32 percent of the total homes that must be tested.

Numerous commercial properties are refusing to be tested. The DTSC scientists said they may have to expand the zone to get more samples.

Only 15 people had their blood tested in the recent four months during soil testing and of those, only four lived within the one-quarter-mile radius, McDaniel reported. Blood testing of individuals is not being done by DTSC, although the results are being shared with the state agency as well as the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Lab work is done by Quest Diagnostics in Valencia.

That Quemetco itself was tasked with performing the tests may be what has convinced an untrusting populace who have lived near the Industry plant for decades to stay home.

“I can tell you why I am not interested. It is because Quemetco is in charge,” said Rebecca Overmyer-Velazquez, co-founder of Clean Air Coalition of North Whittier & Avocado Heights. “If you are going to test people’s blood, you should do a real, scientific study.”

McDaniel’s team, as of Tuesday, had tested only 60 people — 54 adults and six children. Of the children, four are under 10 years old. She plans to ask schools in the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, day care centers and farmers markets to expand access.

“Our total is 60, which is still not great,” she said. “We are hoping to get more.”

Children are most affected

McDaniel wants to test more children, who are more likely to have touched dirt in the area and ingested lead particles, she said. Lead is also more dangerous to children because their nervous systems are not fully developed.

“We would love to have a lot more kids than we do,” she told the group at an Aug. 31 meeting.

“The age range from 1 to 6 is most sensitive to the effects of lead,” McDaniel said in an email.

Exposure can lead to damage to the brain and nervous system, slowed growth, learning and behavioral problems, juvenile delinquency, criminal behavior and hearing and speech problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The CDC uses 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood or greater as a “reference level” that identifies children who have blood lead levels significantly higher than average and who it recommends should receive some action to reduce future exposure to lead, according to the DTSC.

For adults, the reference level for possible remedial action is 10 mcg/dL.

Early results from blood tests near Quemetco found blood levels of two children below 1 mcg/dL, and no one, including adults, with blood lead levels above 5 mcg/dL, McDaniel said.

“The results have been very reassuring so far,” she said.

Overall in the United States, blood lead levels as a percentage of children tested have dropped since 2009 and the percentage of children with blood lead levels above 10 mcg/dL fell below 1 percent as of last year, according to the CDC.

Last year, the DTSC reported that 3.6 percent of children living within one mile of Exide, a lead smelter in Vernon shut down because of leaks and violations, had a blood lead level of 4.5 mcg/dL. That’s compared to Los Angeles County overall, where 1.95 percent of children were in this higher blood lead category as of 2012.

Some residents are still wary about what results would turn up from the blood tests.

Myrna Minnicucci, who has lived within one-quarter mile of the lead smelting plant for the last 50 years, remembers when she’d take her children to her mother’s house in Bellflower when thick, black smoke spewed from Quemetco’s stacks.

Today, Quemetco officials point to new air pollution technology that has greatly reduced lead emissions.

“I will get tested, but I don’t think it will show anything,” she said.