Crowdfunding

LARC’s Mission
We are a team of environmental experts, pubic health physicians, toxicologists, chemists and product development experts dedicated to solving the most common and devastating environmental disease facing children. This is the epidemic childhood lead poisoning which is causing developmental disabling for a new class of children in each year.1

The Problem
Industrial lead emissions and 60+ years of automobiles burning leaded gasoline have deposited heavy concentrations of lead particles onto vast tracks of city and suburban properties where children susceptible to lead poisoning live, learn and play.2 Although this problem is generating $50 billion in annual social costs, it is so widespread not even the government can afford to remediate it. The Centers for Disease Control therefore categorizes lead-contaminated soil as one of two most common high-dose sources of childhood lead poisoning.3

The Solution
The only viable remedy is one that can be easily and inexpensively applied to vast tracts of pubic and private properties. The most promising way to achieve this is with a chemical additive that, when introduced to the soil, it bonds with the hazardous lead particles to form a secondary substance that is biologically inert (does not react within the child). New high-tech developments in quantum and computational chemistry now make this an achievable objective. It is LARC’s mission to bring this solution to fruition.

Who Benefits?
Children become exposed to toxic lead particles by simply playing around their homes, in public parks, playgrounds and school yards. Dermal contact, ingestion and the inhalation of these particles can lead to significant developmental disabilities that have no cure other than prevention.4 With up to 80% of indoor dust being comprised of outdoor soil,5 LARC’s mission is relevant to all families living in city and suburban environments.

The Crowdfunding Project
There are three abatement methods binding lead particles into a nontoxic secondary substance.6,7,8 Although each method is demonstrating positive results, each also involves significant inefficiencies. For a truly effective solution, new chemistry must be discovered.

The challenge lies in testing thousands of possible materials and potential combination of materials. This is nearly an impossible task with traditional research methods requiring expensive and time-consuming experimentation. There is however, a new technology that can quickly identify the ultimate solution within this vast complexity of possibilities. High-Throughput Computational Materials Design combines simplified quantum mechanical mathematics, computational chemistry and supercomputers capable of studying thousands of potential chemical reactions at lightning speed.

High-Throughput Computational Materials Design is already producing remarkable results in both medical and industrial applications. LARC’s mission is to apply these same powerful tools to the lead contaminated soil problem causing an epidemic of childhood lead poisoning. By joining the LARC’s crowdfunding campaign you become an active participant in this exciting project.

The CrowdFunding Goal
We need an initial $200,000 to financed four stages of research:

Stage #1
Identify the quantum mechanical properties producing both the positive and negative outcomes associated with materials used in existing lead-in-soil abatement methods.

Stage #2
Using the newly developed High-Throughput Computational Materials Design database, identify all known materials possessing the precise properties identified Stage #1.

Stage #3
Employ computational chemistry software to study the vast number of material combinations likely to yield the positive outcomes of existing methods while avoiding their inefficiencies and negative effects.

Stage #4
Laboratory and field test the potential solutions identified in Step #3.

Through progress reports posted on the LARC’s website, crowdfunding partners will see their support actually translating into tangible outcomes. As agents assisting progress, each individual will be an integral part of a remarkable solution to a devastating childhood disease.

References:

  1. Dr. Louis Sullivan, 17th Secretary of Health and Humans Services, Reported in: Lead and Your Kids, Newsweek, March 13, 2010
  2. The U.S. Experience with the Phasedown of Lead in Gasoline, Richard G. Newell and Kristian Rogers, Resources for the Future, 2003 June.
  3. Preventing Lead Poisoning in Young Children, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), October 1991.
  4. Toxicology and Exposure Guidelines, University of Nebraska Lincoln. 2003 January. http://ehs.unl.edu/documents/tox_exposure_guidelines.pdf
  5. Assessment of Health Risk From Exposure to Contaminated Soil. J.K. Hawley. Risk Anal. 5(4):289-302.
  6. Remediating Soil Lead with Fish Bones. Kriss S. Freeman. Environ Health Perspect. 2012 January. 120(1): a20-a21.
  7. Advances in the Science of Heavy Metal Treatment; Chemical Treatment/Crystallization: The MAECTITE process Description and Case Study : Steven A. Chisick, CPG, Charles B. McPheeters, and Chris K. Rice. Sevenson Environmental Services, Inc.
  8. Ecobond Technology. MT2 Webpage. 25 September 2014.