JOPLIN, Mo. -- When it comes to struggling with lead pollution in Missouri, good news is rare. The state's ranking as the nation's top lead producer has left scars in places like Herculaneum and the "Old Lead Belt."

So it was a welcome sight when state health officials smiled at a recent announcement in Southwest Missouri's Jasper County, which along with the corners of northeast Oklahoma and southeast Kansas once formed the lead-mining capital of the world.

More than 150 years of digging, transporting and smelting across Jasper County left behind contaminated soil and children exposed to lead. Now the EPA is finishing up 11 years of Superfund yard replacements and lead-conscious health education.

Just 2 percent

Officials call the cleanup a "success."

Here's why: Similar studies done in 1991 and again last year found that the number of children with elevated lead levels in their blood fell from about 14 percent to about 2 percent -- below the national average of 3 percent.

The dramatic results are being noted in other parts of the state fighting lead exposure, which is known to hamper brain development in children and is linked to other health problems in children and adults.

In Herculaneum, about 25 miles south of St. Louis, a massive cleanup is under way after decades of contamination from the nation's largest lead smelter. Officials have found lead levels in soil and human blood far above normal, and the Doe Run Co. -- in a cleanup overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency -- is spending millions to replace yards and reduce emissions.

In the "Old Lead Belt" area of Southeast Missouri, Doe Run is whittling down six mountainous piles of lead waste inherited from its predecessor, the St. Joseph Lead Co. In 1991, one of the piles slumped into the Big River, poisoning fish and prompting Superfund status for St. Francois County. Follow-up tests there also found high lead levels in yards and about 17 percent of children.

The cleanup efforts in both Herculaneum and St. Francois County could drag on for several more years. Still, the Jasper County results offer hope.

The dramatic drop in lead levels in Jasper County came after replacing more than 2,400 yards and creating a community-wide education program.

'Pb Possum'

The campaign included lead-poisoning awareness training for area schools and health workers. An activity book for children featured the cartoon character "Pb Possum" -- named for the chemical symbol for lead -- who urged youngsters to wash their hands often. Officials even developed a lead-poisoning prevention merit badge for local girl scouts.

"The combination of environmental interventions and health education efforts actually worked together to drop those levels," said Brian Quinn, spokesman for Missouri's Department of Health.

The drop also came despite the fact that Jasper County, like Herculaneum and St. Francois County, has hundreds of old homes with lead-based paint. About three-quarters of the nation's housing built before 1978 has indoor or outdoor lead paint.

Tougher situation

In some ways, the situation in Herculaneum is more challenging than those in either Jasper or St. Francois counties.

For one, there has been no comparable study of children's lead levels in Herculaneum, even though less comprehensive surveys by local health officials suggest that as many as one-fourth of the town's children have high lead levels. Meanwhile, state health officials say they have collected enough data from voluntary blood tests to better gauge the severity of exposure there. A report is expected by the end of March.

Also, cleanup efforts in Herculaneum do not have access to Superfund money, reserved for public health emergencies. Gov. Bob Holden and House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt have asked the EPA to upgrade Herculaneum to Superfund status. The agency has assessed the area's contamination and found it severe enough to warrant the status, but the EPA has held on to that assessment while Doe Run has paid for the cleanup.

Superfund status unlikely

David Mosby, a Missouri Department of Natural Resources project manager who has reviewed the situations in Herculaneum and Jasper County, said Superfund status is unlikely as long as Doe Run does everything as ordered by EPA. It's unclear what measures EPA will take if Doe Run fails to meet a June deadline for reducing its air emissions.

"The main reason for Superfund, listing it, is to qualify for federal funds to do the work," Mosby said. "Even if Herculaneum was on the Superfund, it wouldn't make a difference because Doe Run is cooperative. ... It's not the silver bullet that people think it is."