Call
to Action - Contact Congress about Lead and Healthy Homes Funding
The funding level for next year’s HUD’s lead
and healthy homes budget depends on how a House-Senate Conference Committee
resolves an expected $50 million gap between House- and Senate-approved funding
levels. The $50 million in question would provide another year’s funding
for the Urban Lead Hazard Reduction Program that was funded for the first time
last year. There is also an opportunity to win conference report language that
would encourage HUD to provide greater support for community-based prevention
efforts. Your assistance is urgently needed to obtain a favorable outcome of
these matters that will be decided in the very near future.
Reps. Slaughter and Velazquez (D-NY) are circulating a
“Dear Colleague” letter asking other Representatives to sign onto
a letter to the leaders of the relevant House Appropriations Committees and
subcommittees requesting support for both the larger budget amount and the conference
report language that supports community-based prevention strategies. We are
asking you to quickly contact your Member of Congress to ask him or her to sign
onto the Slaughter/Velazquez letter. For information on how to contact your
Representative, visit the House website at www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_USA_Map.html,
or call the main switchboard at (202-224-3121) and just ask to be connected
to your Representative’s office and the staff responsible for housing
appropriations. Staff in your Representative’s office may contact either
Sally Schaeffer (202-225-3615) in Rep. Slaughter’s office or Julie Okoniewski
(202-225-2361) in Rep. Velazquez’s office to arrange to sign on to this
letter.
Calls to your two Senators will also needed, but these
need to wait a week or two. Please contact Ralph Scott (rscott@afhh.org,
202-543-1147) if you need further information and to let us know what response
you receive. For additional information on the Slaughter/Velazquez letter, the
conference report language, and the leaders of the relevant House Appropriations
Committees, please visit www.afhh.org/aa/aa_alert_HUD_budget_action_needed.htm.
Endorse the National
Housing Trust Fund
Your help is needed now in winning a national victory that
will help the most vulnerable families in cities across the country. We urge
you to join more than 4,500 public interest and social justice organizations,
local governments, elected officials, and editorial boards in endorsing the
National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). The NHTF would provide communities with
the funds to build, rehabilitate, and preserve 1.5 million affordable homes
over the next decade – using funds that are generated by other federal
housing programs that now simply go the federal Treasury.
There are several ways you can help: visit the NHTF
Campaign website to sign up your organization as an endorser; urge
at least one other organization to which you belong to endorse the NHTF; publicize
the NHTF Campaign to other colleagues and allies; and use the www.nhtf.orgwebsite feature to quickly email your Senator or Representative, if he or
she has not already endorsed the NHTF.
Your support will make a real difference. The NHTF has
broad, tripartisan support – with almost half the Congress (207 out of
417 Members) already signed on. Last year, the Bush Administration’s strong
opposition just barely stopped the NHTF, where it fell just one vote short (35-36)
in Committee. Broad, grassroots support can force the NHTF to a vote in the
full House, which will open the door to passage. Experts and advocates for public
health, environmental protection, environmental justice, and children’s
health can help carry the day by joining the NHTF campaign.
CDC Advisory Committee
on Childhood Lead
Poisoning Prevention Update
On October 14 and 15, CDC’s Advisory Committee on
Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention (ACCLPP) met in Atlanta. While Dr. Carla
Campbell remains the committee Chair, the Bush Administration has now completed
a second set of appointments to the committee, resulting in an almost complete
turnover of membership. See www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/ACCLPP/members.htm
for a list of current members.
Much of the meeting focused on the just-completed review
by a committee workgroup of the scientific evidence on lead’s health effects
in children at low blood lead levels. To paraphrase, the workgroup concluded
that current evidence suggests an association between cognitive function and
lead exposure at blood lead levels below 10ug/dL in children. However, the workgroup
stopped short of concluding that these adverse cognitive effects are due solely
to led exposure because of the limitations of the available evidence. Consequently,
the workgroup’s position is that current evidence is insufficient to change
clinical recommendations about interpreting blood lead levels measured in individual
children. During the ensuing committee discussion, no members strongly advocated
lowering the threshold, nor disputed the importance of primary prevention. CDC
staff expressed their conclusion that the workgroup report reaffirms the importance
of primary prevention and indicated that CDC does not intend to lower its current
clinical threshold of 10.
The agenda also included discussion of a separate document
making primary prevention recommendations for state and local health departments.
After another round of edits, the document is expected to be published within
the next few months. The full agenda and Committee drafts are public documents
available on request from the CDC Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch.
HUD Faulted on Pesticide
Policy
Two separate petitions were filed on Wednesday, October
8, 2003, calling on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
to comply with an existing federal law governing the pest management activities
of federal agencies. Specifically, the petitions urge HUD to revise the Department’s
regulations to require Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices at HUD-funded
public housing developments. The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act mandates that “[f]ederal agencies shall use Integrated Pest Management
techniques in carrying out pest management activities and shall promote Integrated
Pest Management through procurement and regulatory policies and other activities.”
HUD regulations do not currently require the 3,300 public housing authorities
nationwide to utilize IPM methods. Implementation of such a regulation requiring
IPM would benefit the health of the 1.3 million families presently living in
public housing.
Eleven attorneys general, and a coalition of eight environmental,
housing, and public health organizations, filed the two separate petitions.
The petitioning attorneys general are: New York, California, Connecticut, Illinois,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and
the U.S. Virgin Islands. The public interest petitioners are the: Natural Resources
Defense Council, Alliance for Healthy Homes; Business and Professional People
for the Public Interest, Children’s Environmental health Network, Citizens
for a Better Environment, National Center on Poverty Law, Safer Pest Control
Project, and West Harlem Environmental Action. HUD has not yet responded to
the filed petitions.
New Program to
Include Health Issues In Weatherization Audits and Repairs
A collaboration of weatherization, health and housing organization
and experts are developing an innovative new program called “Weatherization
Plus Health” to incorporate health issues into the assessment and repair
phases of weatherization and housing rehabilitation work. The program will provide
weatherization programs with two levels of actions: Level 1: Do No Harm –
to ensure that health hazards are not created during the weatherization work
and Level 2: Improve Health Conditions – where the goal is to proactively
address housing based health issues that include lead; asthma triggers such
as mold/moisture, pests, and dust; and carbon monoxide. The team is currently
working on its protocols and interested in collaborating with weatherization
programs to pilot test these new activities. For more information contact the
project manager: Ellen Tohn, ERT Associates: e.tohn@comcast.net
or 508-358-7770.
Opportunity
to Access Free Lead Safety Trainings
Under its agreement with a group of state Attorneys General,
the National Paint and Coatings Association (NPCA) is obligated to provide 150
trainings in lead safe work practices (LSWP) each year for the next four years.
NPCA has contracted with MasiMax Environmental Health & Safety Services
to coordinate all aspects of this training. MasiMax and NPCA have approached
state agencies to “sign off” on scheduled trainings and for assistance
in marketing the training, but many state agencies have limited ability to directly
reach those in at-risk communities who might need this training. In many cases,
local organizations are well positioned to identify those who will benefit most
from this training, help spread the word to get them to attend, and identify
appropriate training locations. The Alliance hopes that local health departments,
housing agencies, and community-based organizations will make the most of the
free training in LSWP by taking the initiative to help bring this training to
those in their communities who need it most.
MasiMax
has a calendar with a tentative schedule of trainings listed by city and date
over the next year. NPCA and MasiMax have made clear to the Alliance that these
dates are tentative and “illustrative” and that MasiMax is prepared
to adjust its schedule to offer additional training in cities and on dates for
which there is demand.
If your organization wants to see LSWP training available
at no charge in your community, the Alliance urges you to contact MasiMax by
calling their toll-free number at 1-866-232-5419, e-mailing leadtraininginfo@masimax.com,
or using the online form at www.leadsafetraining.org.
You should clarify that you represent a local organization that wants to work
with MasiMax to have multiple people in your community trained, rather than
an individual who is seeking this training. You should feel free to identify
any specific locations where the training should be offered, suggest preferred
dates and times that will best meet your community’s needs, and specify
any needs for training in languages other than English (although at the current
time, these training courses are only available in English).
For additional information on this issue, including background
about the genesis of this training and suggestions of steps that public health
professionals and advocates can take to ensure that this training advances prevention,
please visit www.afhh.org/aa/aa_legal_remedies_NPCA_trainings.htm.
NCHH to Develop a New
Healthy Homes Training Center and Network
The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) in Columbia,
Maryland was recently awarded a $300,000 cooperative agreement from the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a new National Healthy
Homes Training Center and Network. Aspiring to cross-train traditional health
and housing professionals, this new center will offer a variety of courses on
integrated healthy housing issues at universities nationwide. The courses are
to be developed by a team of nationally recognized housing, environmental public
health, and building science experts.
Included in the initial development of the training center
and network are the following universities: Eastern Kentucky University, Johns
Hopkins University, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Washington,
and the University of Wisconsin. For additional information, please see the
NCHH website at www.centerforhealthyhousing.org.
Update on
Building Blocks for Lead Poisoning Prevention: Protecting
Children from Lead-Based Paint Hazards
To help accelerate action to make U.S. housing
safe for children and their families, the Alliance is in the process of developing
Building Blocks for Primary Prevention: Protecting Children from Lead-Based
Paint Hazards under a contract to CDC. The final product of Building Blocks
will provide concise descriptions of 50-100 strategies that merit consideration
by all who have a role in reducing lead and other environmental health hazards
in housing in an easy-to-use, web-searchable format. The featured strategies
will span the spectrum of primary prevention and, wherever possible, be illustrated
by actual examples to provide programs and policy makers nationwide easy access
to information about innovative and promising strategies.
The Alliance has been identifying examples
and initiating documentation of numerous primary prevention strategies that
are candidates for Building Blocks through a wide array of outreach activities.
At this time, we would like to thank all of those individuals who have provided
excellent suggestions, which have aided us in submitting a draft outline to
CDC containing approximately 75 of the most promising and innovative primary
prevention strategies for advancing lead safety in high-risk housing. However,
we are still accepting nominations and look forward to receiving even more ideas
of inventive strategies to highlight as this groundbreaking project progresses.
To propose a nomination, please send a brief description of the potential building
block, including contact information, to Jane
Malone. Only a few paragraphs are needed for these initial summaries
as Alliance staff will follow up over the coming months to research and develop
the descriptions of the strategies as needed. For a detailed description of
Building Blocks, please visitwww.afhh.org/aboutus/aboutus_projects_buildingblocks.htm.
Lead and Healthy Homes
Get-Together at APHA
This is an invitation to those who are involved in lead
poisoning prevention and healthy homes who will be attending the American Public
Health Association meeting in San Francisco, Nov. 16-19. The Alameda County
Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, San Francisco Department of Public Health,
National Center for Healthy Housing, and the Alliance for Healthy Homes are
hosting an informal get-together on Monday evening, November 17, from 5 pm to
7 pm. Refreshments will be provided along with a “no host bar” at
Buca di Beppo Restaurant, located at 855 Howard Street, San Francisco. Join
us for an informal evening of networking and comparing notes on the latest information
in our fields.
Staff Openings
at the Alliance
The Alliance is seeking to hire a Writer/Researcher and
a Staff Attorney to help advance our work to improve children’s health
and substandard housing. The Alliance offers a fun and collaborative work environment
(convenient to public transportation), excellent benefits, and salary competitive
within the public interest sector. The Alliance values diversity in its staff
and encourages applications from persons of color. Full position announcements
and information on how to apply are available on our website at www.afhh.org/aboutus/aboutus_jobs.htm.
Please Support
our Work
Your tax-deductible support is vital to the Alliance’s
efforts to protect children from environmental health hazards in their homes.
Contributions can be made by mail or online at https://www.givedirect.org/give/givefrm.asp?Action=GC&CID=508.
Federal employees can designate the Alliance (#1503) as a beneficiary through
the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). Thanks for your support!
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