PORTLAND (AP) – Spinach gardens are being used as a weapon here against lead contamination.

Unsafe levels of lead have been found in some homeowners’ yards in the city’s Bayside neighborhood. The amount of lead varied widely from yard to yard, and even within each yard.

Soil scientist Samantha Langley-Turnbaugh of the University of Southern Maine planted three spinach gardens over the summer to see if the plants could help clean up contaminated soil. Leafy plants like spinach absorb lead from the soil as they grow.

“People were planting backyard gardens and hadn’t even thought about the fact that there were heavy metals in the soil that could be taken up into the plants,” Langley-Turnbaugh said.

The high levels are seen in part as a remnant of Bayside’s industrial past. Bayside is a mix of residential streets, businesses and warehouses just off Interstate-295 on Portland’s peninsula.

Langley-Turnbaugh and her students began testing the Bayside yards last fall with the help of a small grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.

In some places lead levels soared above 375 parts per million, the guideline set by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Levels reached 7,000 parts per million in some cases.

“That’s the highest you want to see in bare soil that’s in a play area,” Langley-Turnbaugh said.

Preliminary results show that the contamination in one yard was cut in half by the spinach garden.

Similar projects have been done in the laboratory or on industrial sites, but this is one of the first to use plants to remediate lead problems around homes.

The project will continue this year in the nearby Parkside neighborhood.

Lead is a central nervous system toxin that can cause learning disabilities and developmental delays.

AP-ES-12-04-03 1052EST

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