Corzine signs to help stop lead poisoning

TRENTON – Stressing the need to protect the health of New Jersey’s children and building on a report by the Public Advocate, Governor Jon S. Corzine today signed an Executive Order to significantly strengthen efforts to eliminate lead exposure hazards.
“The Public Advocate’s report is quite compelling,” Governor Corzine said. “Lead poisoning is a public health crisis that has irreversible effects on children and even adults, and we need to do all we can to address this crisis head-on. The Executive Order I am signing will establish a comprehensive program, drawing on coordinated resources from multiple agencies at the State and local level to expand our efforts to prevent lead poisoning, treat lead-poisoned children, assist affected families, and more effectively remediate lead-burdened housing.”
Lead exposure can cause brain damage, developmental delays, reduced IQ, reading and learning disabilities, behavioral problems, hearing impairments, and hyperactivity. Lead exposure can also impair the development and functioning of vital organs and can result in convulsions, coma, and even death.
A field investigation conducted by the Public Advocate’s staff found lead dust levels exceeding the federal standard in 85 of 104, or 82 percent of, homes tested in five of the New Jersey cities with the highest concentration of lead-poisoned children: Trenton, Camden, Newark, East Orange and Irvington. Together, these five cities accounted for 31 percent of all reported lead poisonings in New Jersey in FY 2005.
In addition, most of the addresses tested had already been subject to lead inspections and/or abatements and had been cleared for occupancy. Investigators also found shoddy abatement and clean-up work and interviewed families of children whose blood lead levels were higher after the lead problem in their home had supposedly been cleaned up.
In FY 2005, more than 4,000 New Jersey children were diagnosed with levels of lead in their blood at or above the federal level of concern based on the federal standard of 10 micrograms per deciliter, mostly from ingesting lead-based paint chips or lead dust from deteriorating paint in their homes.
“We can prevent our children from being sickened, suffering brain damage and even dying due to an environmental contamination in their homes,” said Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen. “I commend all of the parties involved, and especially Governor Corzine, for recognizing the seriousness of this problem and for taking these important first steps to solving it – forever.”
The specific problems identified in the Public Advocate’s investigation include:
In FY 2005, of all the children under six years of age screened for lead in New Jersey, 2.4 percent, or 4,048 children, were found to have a level at or above 10 micrograms per deciliter of whole blood, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) level of concern. While this number improves every year, it is still unacceptably high.
New Jersey’s housing stock is old, with more than half built before the sale of lead paint was banned in 1978. While the lead poisoning problem is statewide it is particularly bad in older urban areas.
According to the CDC, New Jersey’s rate of poisoning is not only above the national average, but also above other northeastern states, such as New York and Massachusetts, that have similarly old housing stocks.
It has taken months and even years for a home to be cleaned up, or abated, after a child is first known to be lead poisoned.
A review of all records from the five selected cities over the past ten years revealed that local health inspectors ordered abatements in only about 60 percent of the cases where a child had been poisoned and, of those, about 20 percent never happened.
Abatement contractors have at times in the past been able to get away with shoddy, inferior work because the standards governing their performance are insufficiently precise.
Children are being re-poisoned in homes that should have been lead-safe.
Childhood lead poisoning significantly burdens State resources because it increases health care and educational costs and requires the State to provide long-term services to individuals who suffer from disabilities or behavioral problems due to exposure.
Families are often left without information, financial assistance, and housing alternatives. Although funding is available to relocate families to lead-safe housing, fewer than 100 families have been able to use this funding in the last three years.
“Families, especially in urban areas, have enough to worry about on a daily basis, without wondering if their homes are killing them,” Senator Ronald L. Rice, D-Essex, and Chairman of the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee, said. “Lead poisoning is a silent epidemic in New Jersey’s urban areas. Over the years, I have sponsored legislation to address lead poisoning issues. More needs to be done, and I am eager to work with all the State departments on this issue. I believe that we have an obligation to protect our citizens from lead poisoning and assist those who have been exposed to it.”