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Get the Lead Out
Each year some 10,000 New York children are newly identified as being lead poisoned – consigning them to a life of diminished potential. The overwhelming source of lead poisoning is New York’s older housing stock – the homes most likely to contain lead paint. New York’s childhood lead poisoning laws and regulations are not designed to prevent children from exposure to lead; they focus on treating children and cleaning up their homes only after tests confirm they have tremendous amounts of lead in their blood. However, through regulation and without additional legislative authority, Governor-elect Spitzer can take several steps to dramatically reduce childhood lead poisoning in New York State and put the state firmly on the path to meeting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s goal of eliminating lead poisoning by 2010. Because New York has the greatest number (3.3 million) and the highest percentage (43%) of older housing of any state in the nation, lead poisoning persists almost four decades after the state banned the sale of lead paint in 1970. Lead poisoned children cost the state more for education, special education, health care and, potentially, criminal justice costs as lead poisoned children demand additional resources to confront their learning and behavioral issues. There is no “safe” level of lead exposure for children—all lead exposure causes irreversible damage. Severe cases can result in organ damage, coma or even death. There is no effective treatment to reverse the damage done by lead to children. Childhood lead poisoning is overwhelmingly caused by peeling, chipping and flaking lead paint that often takes the form of an invisible toxic dust in older, poorly maintained buildings in urban areas. As a result, the vast majority of lead poisoned children are from low-income minority households. The state Department of Health has mapped the areas with the greatest number of lead poisoned children and a clear picture has emerged of the problem in New York State. There is agreement among researchers, doctors, children’s and public health advocates that preventing lead poisoning by ensuring that housing does not poison children is the most effective and least expensive approach to the problem. Current public health law provides ample authority for the state to act proactively to prevent childhood lead poisoning. There are three things that Governor-elect Spitzer can do to aggressively move to prevent childhood lead poisoning: 1. The new governor should use existing powers under public health law to designate “areas of high risk” in the top 30 communities in the state with elevated blood levels based on state screening data and implement proactive poisoning prevention plans. 2. The new governor should use existing authority to reduce the blood lead level that triggers intervention. 3. The governor should boost screening rates. He should raise childhood lead poisoning screening rates among providers and state contractors, enhance promotion of lead screening through public benefit programs and produce annual reports on screening and incidence rates and community-level maps to educate the public and track the problem. The governor-elect has stated that on “Day 1, everything changes.” Let’s hope that starting next year, New York State takes a new and aggressive approach to the problem of lead poisoning. That’s all for now. I’ll be keeping an eye on the Capitol and will talk to you again next week. |
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