Pollution in the heavily industrialized Southeast Side has some parents wondering if it has any effects on their children.
Last year, Janet Nunez enrolled her two youngest children Iliana, 8, and Alexander, 7, in a government funded study that tests blood hair, saliva, toenails, and baby teeth for the presence of brain damaging metals such as manganese and lead. Nunez tells The Sun Times that she worries there's a connection between her children having difficulties keeping up with their schoolwork and the pollution around her home.
Iliana and Alexander are among 30 Southeast Side children participating in the study led by University of Kentucky environmental health scientist Erin Haynes, who previously tested hundreds of children in Southeastern Ohio and found a correlation between high manganese levels in the body and low IQ scores.