lead

Four U.S. states are still struggling with high rates of lead poisoning from soil, pipes and paint. It impacts thousands of people each year, especially low-income communities and families of color.

Ohio should follow the science on lead poisoning and commit to a prevention-first strategy for all centers and homes licensed to provide child care,…

It's the first time global data has been gathered on the extent of the problem. Experts are calling it a "groundbreaking" report. And the ill effects can last for a lifetime.

The new proposal is being criticized for not proactively replacing lead service lines across the nation. It also keeps the same threshold for lead in drinking water that the U.S. currently has.

Cleveland City Council passed new lead paint requirements for landlords Wednesday, giving Mayor Frank Jackson’s administration 18 months to develop a citywide program to reduce childhood lead poisoning. The law requires owners of rentals built before 1978 to have their properties inspected for lead hazards every two years. Cleveland’s Building and Housing Department will start enforcing the new rules in March 2021 and require all rentals to be certified as lead safe by 2023. The legislation also doubles the rental registration fee, raising it from $35 to $70.

A proposed ordinance would set a timetable for lead inspections and cleanup in all Cleveland rental units built before 1978. Every rental unit in the city would have to be inspected beginning March 1, 2021, under newly introduced Under Ord. 747-2019, and all units would have to be certified as lead safe by 2023. Violations would carry civil and criminal penalties. Councilman Blaine Griffin co-sponsored the legislation, along with Council President Kevin Kelley and Councilman Kerry McCormack.

A list of 33 recommendations for dealing with Cleveland’s ongoing lead crisis, presented to the city council Monday by experts and activists, did not include a way to pay for inspections and fixes to lead contaminated housing. Councilman Blaine Griffin, chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, hinted the funding could come from a new tax or foundation support or another source.

About a year ago, at one years old, Eden Tobik was found to have a blood lead level of 19. Any amount of lead is harmful to young children; five is the threshold of concern. Her mother, Casey Tobik, was devastated. “Shock, guilt, shame, fear, despair, terror, sets in,” said Tobik. “And then you Google it and it gets even worse.”

In 1985, Darrick Wade was living in Lakeview Terrace on Cleveland’s near west side with his family when he first started noticing something was off with his son, Demetrius. "When he was about two years old, I believe he had an episode of an attack of the lead, that toxin," Wade said. "Because he shook a chair real angrily, and I didn’t understand where that anger came from at such a young age."

Children with toxic lead exposure will soon have fewer roadblocks to qualify for Ohio’s Early Intervention program. State lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review today paved the way for the Department of Developmental Disabilities to automatically include children with elevated blood levels in the program. This will include children with a blood lead level of 5 micrograms per deciliter or higher, said Gabriella Celeste, the policy director of Case Western Reserve University’s Shubert Center for Child Studies.