The Plague of Lead Poisoning

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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/13/opinion/13SAT2.html?th

 

The Plague of Lead Poisoning

The federal goal to eliminate lead poisoning in children by 2010 seemed

achievable when it was set in 1991. With bans on leaded gasoline and paint in

place, progress has been made — the number of cases detected has fallen by 50

percent. Still, hundreds of thousands of small children, most of them black,

Hispanic and Asian, face one of the most preventable environmental hazards in

the nation by simply breathing inside their homes.

 

Tests have shown that more than 400,000 children 1 to 5 years old have blood

lead levels above that considered toxic by the Centers for Disease Control — and

that number would be much greater if the index was lowered, as many experts

wish, and if more children were regularly tested. Most cases occur in large and

mid-size cities where formerly good housing is deteriorating. When lead paint

peels or is improperly removed, or even when it is scraped as a window is

opened, it unleashes a dust fine enough to be both ubiquitous and undetected as

children crawl on it and touch it. It takes very little ingested lead to damage

the still-forming brains and nerves of children or fetuses, and such damage can

lead to permanent and debilitating health and learning problems, like lower IQ's

and retardation, and behavioral problems.

 

Where testing has been done, patterns emerge. In Chicago, one in three children

tested positive for lead poisoning, mainly in poorer neighborhoods, causing the

city to push for increased testing and education. Similar hot spots were found

in Providence, Philadelphia and St. Louis. But for sheer density of risk,

nothing compares with New York City because of its huge stock of older homes and

a lead belt stretching across underserved poor, minority and immigrant

communities in Brooklyn and Queens. New York was years ahead of the federal

government in outlawing lead paint in 1960. But the city faltered four years

ago, passing a law that failed to address the danger of lead dust. That law was

struck down on a technicality in the courts this summer, leaving a void on an

urgent issue.

 

A bill before the New York City Council — sponsored by Bill Perkins, who

represents parts of Harlem and the Upper East Side — would go a long way to

protect those most vulnerable by clearly labeling lead dust a health hazard. It

also corrects a lapse in the previous law, which shielded landlords from

liability. The new law would place the burden of fixing lead problems on

building owners, who would have to act in a timely way, using trained workers.

City officials say the bill is too expensive and goes too far, including its

provision to increase the upper age range of monitored children to age 7, from

age 6.

 

Gifford Miller, the Council speaker, has been criticized for not moving more

quickly on the legislation, but he now appears to agree with much of what it

seeks to accomplish and has offered improvements, like adding a focus on primary

prevention. In New York's current fiscal squeeze, City Hall is right to worry

about costs, but the mayor's economists also need to consider the long term.

Lead poisoning does not typically kill. Instead it leaves a lifetime of

expensive concerns — like special schooling and medical care — that society is

left to absorb. This is a problem with a clear solution if those in government

do the right thing now, while the goal is in sight.

 

 

 

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