Jackson Heights 7 Train Station Paintwork Has Excessive Lead, Union Says

JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS — The paint peeling off a train station in Jackson Heights was found to contain about 50 times in excess of the legal requirements for lead, a report showed.

Samples of paint chips falling from the 52nd Street 7 train station were found to contain lead amounts of 244,000 parts per million, according to a report by the District Council 9 International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. The lead content at the 102-year-old station is almost 50 times the legal threshold for lead abatement procedures, which are typically required when lead levels reach 5,000 parts per million.

The toxic paint chips have been falling on to schools and parks and seeping into the soil, said District Council 9 Secretary Treasurer and Business Manager Joseph Azzopardi.

“Forty-eight times the levels that would require lead abatement is cause for a public health crisis. We have a responsibility to these communities," NYC Councilman Daniel Dromm said. "We owe it to the families in this area to protect them from dangers like the one presented by lead paint on the 7 Train.”

Calling for a community-wide assessment of health conditions related to lead toxicity, Assemblyman Francisco Moya said lead posed a serious threat to children's health.

"The City and MTA need to take a serious look at this data and propose a plan to fully scrape, prime and repaint the infrastructure endangering our neighborhood,” he said.

The MTA said it already has a program in place to provide periodical inspections to train stations and adjacent parks. The paint chips recovered during maintenance procedures are disposed of in accordance with EPA regulations.

Lead image via Google Maps