What’s Killing Us?: WREG investigates environmental pollution, lead poisoning

A months-long WREG investigation examined the deadly problems families across the Mid-South are most likely to face.

From gun violence and drugs to learning who is at the highest risk for cancer, the News Channel 3 Investigators uncovered numerous health problems plaguing our community.

We discovered major hazards and hidden dangers in our homes and in the air we breathe that are not only making us sick but killing us.

WREG also uncovered data revealing your life is more likely to be cut short, depending on where you live.

Yolonda Spinks was born and raised in South Memphis, surrounded by a village in a community she still calls home today.

“Like when I say this community is a part of my life, like my cousins grew up here, my sisters and brothers,” said Spinks.

She recalled moments from childhood at Riverview Park where we sat and talked on a park bench.

“Just remember you know, going to the community center, playing in the park,” said Spinks.

For miles and miles around the same South Memphis community, you can see industrial companies nestled near homes, schools, and parks.

Spinks explained, “Never knew about air pollution, didn’t know that all the railroads in our community were noise pollution. Just didn’t put two and two together, like this is my community. Sometimes it didn’t smell pleasant, it smelled like rotten eggs or something.”

Spinks said growing up around it was their normal.

“No one really talked about it. It was just there,” added Spinks.

These days, Spinks uses her voice to sound the alarm as an environmental justice advocate. She serves as the Communications Director for Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP).

“This is not happenstance, this is not an accident. Pollution in this community is killing people. It’s killing my people! “ Spinks said.

Shelby County is home to 85 toxic release facilities, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

A closer look when considering the toxicity of the chemicals and the potential health impact from long-term exposure shows southwest Shelby County, South, and North Memphis are hit with almost half of the county’s toxic releases.

That includes the same community where WREG shared that park bench with Spinks.

“ I should be able to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and have clean soil no matter my zip code, said Spinks.”

Click here to learn more about toxic releases in your community.

Patrick Anderson is an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center .

He told WREG, “There are more polluters in southwest Memphis than you would expect to see in most big cities.“

SELC began working alongside advocates with MCAP during their fight against the Byhalia Pipeline and most recently, against Sterilization Services of Tennessee.

Sterilization Services closed this spring after operating for nearly 50 years in South Memphis and emitting ethylene oxide, a carcinogen associated with lymphoma, leukemia, stomach, and breast cancer.

South Memphis plant that used toxic chemical closes

“We looked at tools that EPA puts out and they showed that communities in Memphis face some of the absolute highest risk of cancer from toxic air pollution in the country,” explained Anderson.

The News Channel 3 Investigators reviewed some of the same data revealing cancer risk from air pollutants in poor and primarily Black communities in Memphis is extraordinarily high.

Anderson explained, “When you see that 99th percentile, it means that your cancer risk is worse than all but 1% of communities in the country. “

Enter your address to find out how your community compares to others

“You have generations of family members that are dying from various types of cancers. Some people have more than one type of cancer at one time,” said Spinks who lost her own mother she said to stomach cancer more than 12 years ago.

Spinks added, “I often hear people say, ‘Oh, cancer was in my family.’ Cancer doesn’t run in your family, your community where you all grew up and where you live is a common denominator!”

According to research WREG uncovered, where you live dictates how long you live.

Shelby County Health Department Director Dr. Michelle Taylor is a pediatrician by trade.

“When a child is born in Shelby County and frankly, in a lot of places in the country, they are born with a different set of choices depending on who they are born to,” said Taylor.

She says details on a baby’s chart reinforce how life expectancy is predicted at birth.

Taylor explained, “In some zip codes and some census tracts, there’s a 20-year difference in life expectancy depending on where that child is going home to.”

But long before heart disease, diabetes or even gun violence can take someone out, Taylor says children are forced to face immediate dangers that can shorten their lifespan.

She continued, “Are they living in a home that’s older, that hasn’t had the lead service lines switched out? Right. So that means there may be lead in the water that they’re using in the tap water. Is there peeling lead paint in the house?”

There are more questions than answers these days for Alisha Warr after testing for her 2-year-old Natalie revealed the toddler, who is also on the autism spectrum, had elevated blood lead levels.

“Will she be alright, how long will it take for the lead to get out of her body? I want to know where did she come in contact with the lead,” said Warr.

Warr shared Natalies’s results with WREG revealing levels more than double what’s considered an acceptable range.

Warr raised questions such as, “Will my baby’s organs shut down? How will this affect her?”

Natalie’s treatment includes taking multivitamin/iron drops and re-testing.

Warr, her husband, and their four children live in a recently remodeled home in the Alcy-Ball community, but for years lived nearby in a house built in the 1940s.

Warr doesn’t know how the lead got into little Natalie’s system.

Children living in older homes, built before 1978, when the United States banned lead paint, are at greater risk for lead poisoning.

“This is something serious, very serious, Warr said.”

Since 2019, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded the City of Memphis and Shelby County more than $10 million to help get lead paint out of homes.

Just under 200 homes have been remediated, according to HUD.

That number represents only a fraction of the more than 200,000 homes in Memphis built before 1978.

Spinks told the WREG Investigators, “At the end of the day, this is about community. This is about human lives.

Assuring more families live healthier, longer lives requires an intentional commitment to eradicate decades of policy that put our community where it is today, Spinks said.

Spinks continued, “Now that we know the implications of all of these toxins in humans, what are we going to do to change what Memphis looks like?”

One of the latest concerns for MCAP is xAI, Elon Musk’s supercomputer that’s headed to Memphis.

“MCAP’s concerns with xAI’s plans are multifaceted, the most alarming issue is that xAI has made plans with our public utility MLGW and our Memphis Chamber but has not hosted a meeting here with our community. The community that will bear the brunt of the environmental impact of this facility. We are concerned about how this corporation was able to circumvent all levers of governance and oversight from the MLGW Board of Commissioners and our City Council,” said MCAP President KeShaun Pearson.

xAI supercomputer may need 1M gallons of water, plenty of power, group says

Pearson added, “A facility of this magnitude will require the equivalent amount of power for 100,000 homes and 1 million gallons of water from our Memphis Sands Aquifer. We are concerned about how that will affect the pollution plumes headed to our aquifer and the integrity of our power grid that has shown to be inadequate with rising climate temperatures with over 5,000 homes going without power due to strain from increased A/C usage.”

MLGW chief shares numbers behind xAI supercomputer in Memphis

Resources for Your Family

Live in an older home in Memphis and concerned about lead in your home? Apply for a Healthy Home Assessment here or call (901) 636-LEAD.

Shelby County residents can apply using this form .

Shelby County Health Department Lead Poisoning Prevention Program

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