America Is Wrapped In Miles Of Toxic Lead Cables
Thousands of cables containing lead installed throughout the U.S. by telecom companies decades ago are still in places where they can be significant environmental and public health hazards through exposure to toxic materials, primarily lead. Braden Allenby, a professor in the School of Sustainability and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, is a former environmental health and safety official for American Telephone and Telegraph, which installed many of these cables from the late 1800s to the 1960s. He says many of the old lead-containing cables were left in the ground even after the industry began using safer plastic sheathing and fiber optics instead of lead.