Alliance
Launches CDC Lead Poisoning Prevention Appropriations Campaign
The Alliance for Healthy Homes, along with the National
Center for Healthy Housing and state and local health department and community-based
organization allies, launched a campaign in October to increase lead poisoning
prevention appropriations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s
(CDC) grants to states and large cities. The campaign seeks to increase CDC
lead poisoning prevention funds by $15 million each year between FY 2007 and
FY 2011.
The campaign, called “Getting the Job Done,” highlights new activities
that CDC must fund, along with ongoing activities, if we are to eliminate childhood
lead poisoning as a public health problem by 2010, a stated goal of the federal
government.
Identify and provide services to affected children:
The lead program’s grantees must continue their intensive efforts to
identify and provide services to children with elevated blood lead levels,
but also expand primary prevention activities to control or eliminate exposure
sources of lead before children are poisoned.
The practice of prevention: Highest risk cities need
grants to enable them to analyze data from multiple agencies and target attention
to clearly identifiable islands of risk, such as properties where multiple
children have been poisoned and properties with serious code violations or
otherwise in bad condition. In
2003, fully 46% of all confirmed lead poisoning occurred in just 10 cities.
Special emphasis in unserved areas: All states that
have known high-risk areas or presumed high-risk areas based on housing and
socioeconomic indicators of risk must be funded. Presently, CDC cannot fund
lead poisoning prevention efforts in 13 states, including several with known
lead poisoning problems or areas of high risk. The 2010 objective cannot be
achieved without increased efforts in these states.
Special populations: CDC’s lead program must be
able to develop and implement concerted efforts to identify special risk populations,
such as new immigrants who have been shown to be at greater risk for lead
poisoning, and control or eliminate their exposure to both lead-based paint
hazards and non-paint sources of lead such as medical preparations, cosmetics,
and other products.
Maintain protective surveillance: As we succeed in greatly
reducing known exposure sources, CDC’s lead program must be able to
document new or re-emerging sources of children’s potential exposure
to lead in order to ensure that the risk for exposure remains low.
Over the next several months, the campaign will expand
to reach as many Senators and House Members as possible to ensure that CDC receives
the funds it needs to wipe out childhood lead poisoning in America. For more
information on the campaign, contact Jane Malone at jmalone@afhh.org
or 202-543-1147.
Organizations
and Individuals Endorse Public Health and Environmental Justice Principles in
Hurricane Recovery
More than 80 organizations and individuals joined with
the Alliance for Healthy Homes to urge Congress and relevant federal agencies
to ensure public health and environmental justice in hurricane recovery efforts
along the Gulf Coast.
The sign-on letter, sent in October, asserted that community
leaders and organizations are best equipped to ensure fair and effective decision-making
and distribution of resources. The letter noted that rebuilding the infrastructure
and the social fabric of the Gulf Coast is hampered by widespread public distrust
because of the initial inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina. Of immediate
concern to signers is residents having equal access to assistance and having
a voice in how governments conduct the recovery and rebuilding of these communities.
The letter urged adoption of standards to guide government
policy to address environmental health hazards in homes in the Gulf region and
protect occupant health and structural durability through high-quality repair,
rehab, and rebuilding. It also emphasized mechanisms for ensuring transparency
and accountability to affected communities, stressing the importance of standards
to ensure meaningful resident participation in recovery decisions and efforts,
resident right-to-know about the conditions and potential risks in and around
their homes; giving priority to local community organizations for assessing
environmental health hazards in homes; and provision of free healthy homes training
to occupants, landlords, and contractors.
American
Academy of Pediatrics Calls for Housing-Based Approach for Preventing Childhood
Lead Poisoning
In October, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a
Policy Statement on Lead Exposure in Children: Prevention, Detection, and Management.
AAP concluded that, "Evidence continues to accrue that commonly encountered
blood lead concentrations, even those less than 10 micrograms/dL, may impair
cognition, and there is no threshold yet identified for this effect. Most US
children are at sufficient risk that they should have their blood lead concentration
measured at least once."
AAP goes on to stress the importance of a housing-based
approach to childhood lead poisoning prevention by saying, "The focus in
childhood lead-poisoning policy...should shift from case identification and
management to primary prevention, with a goal of safe housing for all children."
The Policy Statement also provides useful information about
lead poisoning in the United States since the 1970s; sources of lead exposure;
the toxicity of lead; the costs of childhood lead poisoning and benefits of
prevention (including a short cost-benefit analysis of the problem); diagnostic
measures; case management for children with elevated blood lead levels; recommendations
for pediatricians that include environmental history taking to discover sources
of lead in a child's environment; and recommendations for government that focus
on housing-based approaches and reducing and eliminating lead exposure as a
means to ending childhood lead poisoning in the United States.
Housing
Bill Passes House with Affordable Housing Fund, Nonprofit Gag Rule Intact
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Federal Housing
Finance Reform Act on October 26. The affordable housing fund built into the
bill was not removed, but a gag order preventing disbursements from the fund
to nonprofit groups that sponsor voter participation activities was also included—even
if the federal funds are not used for the voter participation activities. The
Alliance and a wide range of affordable housing and civil liberties organizations
vigorously opposed the gag rule, and many experts believe it is unconstitutional.
Proponents of the gag provision, including Representative
Richard Baker (R-LA), claimed that federal grants free up other money for nonprofits
to do "political" activities. In this way, they argued, the Affordable
Housing Fund would be underwriting political speech of nonprofits. Baker also
said that nonprofits should make a choice between "political activism"
and providing housing support.
Opponents of the provision, including Rep. Barney Frank
(D-MA), John Lewis (D-GA), and Barbara Lee (D-CA), asserted that the proponents’
claims represented a “false choice,” and that nonprofits should
never have to choose between exercising free speech and providing direct services
to their constituencies. They theorized that the gag provision is likely an
unconstitutional infringement on free speech, and the provision’s opponents
also posited that calling voter participation activities “political”
represents a fundamental misunderstanding of term. “Political” activities
generally refer those that advocate for the victory of defeat of a specific
candidate for public office, a political party, or a ballot initiative or referendum.
Voter participation drives and other voter participation efforts do not fall
within this definition.
The Senate has not yet passed the Federal Housing Finance
Reform Act. For more information on the House vote, visit www.ombwatch.org/gseresourcecenter.
Representatives
and Senators Call for Environmental Health Protections in the Wake of Hurricanes
On September 29, several Representatives and Senators introduced
resolutions in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate calling on Congress to preserve
public health, environmental, and environmental justice protections in the wake
of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Known as the Public Health and Environmental Equity Act,
H. Res. 477 and S. Res. 261 urge Congress to avoid using the crisis of Hurricane
Katrina and other such disasters should to weaken, waive, or roll back federal
public health, environmental, and environmental justice laws and regulations.
The resolutions also assert that state, local, and regional authorities must
retain their compliance and permitting powers to monitor and enforce cleanup
of industrial and other facilities; that testing, monitoring, cleanup, and recovery
in the region hit by Hurricane Katrina and other areas of national emergency
should be completed in a manner designed to protect public health and the environment,
ensure habitability of the region, and mitigate against the effects of future
storms; and that the federal rebuilding of communities and the economy of the
Gulf Region be a model of the integrated, diverse, and sustainable society that
all Americans desire and deserve.
Representatives Hilda Solis (D-FL) and Alcee Hastings (D-FL)
and Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the resolutions.
To see the full text of the resolutions, see http://thomas.loc.gov/.
Select the “Enter Bill Number” option below the search bar, then
type in “H Res 477” or “S Res 261.”
Rhode
Island Retrial of Suit Against Lead Pigment Manufacturers Begins
The retrial of the State of Rhode Island’s landmark
lawsuit against several lead pigment manufacturers, including Sherwin-Williams,
NL Industries, and ARCO, began October 31.
The State alleges that the defendants knew that their products
were hazardous and that safe alternatives existed, yet they misrepresented their
products as safe. Among the examples of irresponsible behavior outlined in the
complaint are the lead industry’s concerted efforts to thwart labeling
requirements, even after the industry acknowledged the dangers of lead-based
paint.
The State’s persistence in holding the lead pigment
industry accountable has already persuaded one defendant to settle out of court.
Calling its settlement “an agreement” with Rhode Island Attorney
General Patrick Lynch, DuPont agreed in July to pay $12 million toward lead
poisoning prevention throughout the state.
Rhode Island is the first state in the nation to bring
a lawsuit against the lead pigment industry. Several municipalities and counties
have also filed suit against lead paint companies, and a growing number of those
cases are being cleared for trial. Among them are the City of Milwaukee’s
lawsuit against Mautz Paint (now owned by Sherwin-Williams) and NL Industries,
and a lawsuit filed by 22 municipalities and four counties in New Jersey.
Rhode
Island Landlords Sue to Overturn State’s Lead Paint Law
A group of landlords filed suit against the State of Rhode
Island in October, claiming that the state’s new lead law is unconstitutional.
The landlords, led by State Representative Joseph Trillo
(R-Warwick), a vigorous opponent of the enactment of the Rhode Island law earlier
this year, claim that the new law discriminates against landlords with large
properties and multiple buildings. Thus, the landlords claim that the law violates
the equal protection and due process clauses of Rhode Island’s constitution.
Rhode Island’s lead law provides exceptions for certain
classes of properties to requirements designed to reduce lead hazards in rental
properties, especially those housing young children. Owner-occupied single-family
homes and owner-occupied buildings with three or fewer rental units are exempt
from some provisions of the law.
Trillo has a long history of advocating for large rental
property owners in Rhode Island. He said that he hopes to remove the law’s
mandatory inspection requirement. The inspection provision was included in the
law to help identify lead hazards in rental properties that may otherwise continue
to poison children.
State Attorney General Patrick Lynch said that the lawsuit
has no legal basis and that the state would successfully defend its lead law.
For more information on this and other Rhode Island lead
poisoning prevention issues, see www.leadsafekids.org.
Two
Defendants in Wisconsin Lead Poisoning Case Settle Out of Court
Two defendants in a lead poisoning lawsuit brought by a
Wisconsin teenager have settled out of court. Former lead pigment manufacturers
American Cyanamid and Cytec agreed to place $35,000 in an annuity for the boy,
which will be worth over $58,000 upon maturity. Attorneys for both sides used
the risk contribution method identified by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Thomas
v. Mallet to determine the companies’ share of financial liability to
Steven Thomas, the plaintiff.
The settlement marks the first time that a market-share
type settlement has been reached in a lawsuit against companies that formerly
manufactured lead pigments for use in paint. Defendants remaining in the Thomas
case include Atlantic Richfield Co., Du Pont, NL Industries, SCM Chemicals Inc.,
Sherwin-Williams, and ConAgra—companies that had a far larger share of
the lead paint market than the defendants that settled their cases.
In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued an opinion
that stated that Thomas should be able to sue lead pigment manufacturers under
the Wisconsin common law notion of risk-contribution. Under the risk-contribution
theory, Thomas can proceed with a negligence claim, a strict products liability
claim, or both. The Wisconsin Supreme Court was the first in the nation to authorize
individual lawsuits against lead pigment companies.
Alliance
Publishes “Managing Hurricane Recovery for Healthy and Affordable Communities”
In early November, the Alliance for Healthy Homes published
a healthy homes-based hurricane recovery guide, “Managing Hurricane Recovery
for Healthy and Affordable Communities” for organizations and agencies
that are working with people affected by recent hurricanes—including community
development corporations, tenant groups, and other advocates for decent and
affordable housing; environmental organizations and environmental justice advocates;
public interest lawyers; health advocates; health care and social services providers;
other helping organizations; and civic watchdog groups—as well as for
policy makers trying to ensure that recovery benefits everyone, not just a privileged
few.
While the Guide covers many issues vital to families and
individuals struggling to cope with loss of jobs, homes, and other personal
property and assets, the Alliance focused on the serious environmental health
hazards caused by hurricanes—especially ones related to housing—and
how the recovery process can reduce these and hopefully prevent similar consequences
in future hurricanes.
The Guide is divided into three parts:
Part I provides basic information
on the array of public benefits that are available to hurricane survivors.
Understanding how to access these benefits can be critical for maintaining
one’s health, including access to health care, and having sufficient
resources for short-term basic needs, including food and shelter.
Part II addresses several short- and
medium-term recovery issues. The part covers topics related to preservation
and repair of housing with an emphasis on health and safety issues related
to returning to flood-affected areas and properties.
Part III frames larger, longer-term
questions about health and affordability that are intertwined with recovery
and rebuilding—questions for which there are not yet clear answers.
The discussion of these questions can help point the way for a more democratic
and participatory rebuilding process that takes seriously the affordable,
healthy housing needs of people.
A study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical
Immunology shows that effective asthma interventions performed as part
of the Inner-City Asthma Study are worth their cost.
Interventions that reduced the amount of asthma triggers
in the home cost $1,469 per family. The benefits of the interventions included
a 19 percent decline in unscheduled visits to doctors and a 13 percent decrease
in asthma inhaler use. Children in the study had nearly 40 more symptom-free
days than children who lived in homes where interventions were not performed.
The researchers stressed that individual families with asthmatic children will
value symptom-free days differently. However, potential savings from few missed
school days for kids and fewer missed work days for parents could be substantial,
and values such as health and wellness that are not measurable in dollar figures
are also important to asthmatic children and their families.
The study’s author, Dr. Meyer Kattan of the Mount
Sinai School of Medicine, said that in light of the findings, “Environmental
interventions should be considered as an important part of public health programs
for asthma management of children in inner cities.”
Report
Documents Progress and Challenges in Testing New Jersey Children for Lead
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Association
for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) published a report in October that shows both
progress and challenges in testing New Jersey children for lead poisoning. The
report describes a five-year collaboration between the groups, Legal Services
of New Jersey, and the Office of the Child Advocate that addressed blood lead
screening throughout the state, and it concludes that the targeted education
of medical professionals and parents can increase the identification of lead
poisoned children. Furthermore, the organizations assert that with sufficient
political will, concrete steps can be taken to eliminate lead poisoning among
New Jersey’s children.
To address challenges such as noncompliance with a federal
law that mandates that all Medicaid-enrolled children be tested for lead, and
low overall testing rates, the state’s Medicaid agency has already implemented
an electronic database to track testing of Medicaid children, and the Department
of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has set an 85% testing rate of all one and
two-year-olds as a goal starting in 2010. The ACLU and ACNJ have recommended
further action steps, including providing DHHS the resources it needs to implement
a fully functional information management system by mid-2006; creation and publication
of an education and testing plan that targets the state’s most lead-burdened
neighborhoods; and publication of semi-annual progress reports to the public.
While not mentioned in the report, New Jersey has had some
success focusing on primary prevention efforts. The state’s Department
of Community Affairs launched a $50 million program that will allow inspection
of 850,000 homes and apartments for detection and removal of lead-based paint
hazards over the next five years. The program’s goal is to prevent children’s
exposure to and ingestion of lead before blood lead levels rise.
EPA
Pursues Large Disclosure Violation Penalties from Connecticut, Illinois Property
Management Companies
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed complaints
in October against property management companies in Connecticut and Illinois,
alleging failure to disclose information about the presence of lead-based paint
in over 100 apartment units in Connecticut and 134 units in Chicago.
In the first case, the EPA is seeking over $82,000 from
MCR Property Management for failure to disclose lead hazards to incoming tenants.
Around one-half of the leases at the company’s Brookside Commons apartment
complex list children as occupants.
The second case involves a 90-count complaint against Veselko
and Vinko Leko and their property management company V & V Management, Chicago.
EPA alleges that the Lekos and V & V Management failed to disclose lead
hazards in any of their apartment units. The Agency has proposed a $107,030
penalty against the Lekos and their company.
Under federal law, nearly all property owners who lease
housing built before 1978 must provide prospective tenants with EPA’s
Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home, a pamphlet available for free from
the Agency. Property owners must also disclose any known lead-based paint and
hazards in units and common areas in the buildings they lease out. All of this
information must be provided before a lease is signed.
Death
Linked to Pesticide Illustrates the Need and Value of Integrated Pest Management
An elderly woman in Oregon who suffered from heart disease
died in October, a few hours after an insecticide was sprayed in her home. The
woman died from a cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) brought on by exposure
to the pyrethroid pesticide.
Though the medical examiner in the case maintained that
the pesticide inside the woman’s home was “not at a toxic level,”
they were high enough to cause respiratory distress, which then sparked the
woman’s irregular heartbeat. The woman’s husband and emergency medical
responders also reported having trouble breathing inside the home.
The death illustrates the need for safer, healthier pest
control practices in the home. Integrated pesticide management (IPM), which
uses well-established pest prevention and control strategies, can help prevent
adverse health effects like those experienced in this case. IPM utilizes physical
measures such as filling holes and cracks, patching screens, fixing water leaks
and other sources of excessive moisture, and elimination of readily accessible
food sources to prevent insect infestations in the home. To address existing
insect problems, IPM provides lower-toxicity tools such as boric acid, diatomaceous
earth, glue traps, gel baits, and tamper-proof bait stations that, unlike pesticide
sprays, greatly reduce the risk of dangerous chemical exposures in the home.
Confusion
over HIPAA Requirements Reaches Ohio Supreme Court in Public Records Case
In October, the Cincinnati Enquirer and the city’s
health department took to the Ohio Supreme Court a dispute over access to lead
hazard violation citations. The newspaper insists that the citations are a matter
of public record, though they contain the addresses of the properties cited.
The health department maintains that they are not allowed to disclose the citations
because they may contain the names of children poisoned in properties that were
in violation of the city’s housing code.
The health department cites the federal Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as its reason for not providing copies
of the citations to the newspaper. During oral arguments, two Justices on the
Ohio Supreme Court pointed out that housing code citations are not medical records
and are therefore not covered by HIPAA. The health department responded by stating
that many citations stem from medical treatment and therefore are within HIPAA’s
realm.
In June 2004, the Alliance published a guide for health
departments and others to assist in navigating HIPAA and avoiding the type of
confusion over the law that has reached Ohio’s highest court. In the guide,
“Overcoming Barriers to Data-Sharing Related to the HIPAA Privacy Rule,”
the Alliance identified and explained the very issue in question before the
Ohio Supreme Court: “A documented lead-based paint hazard or code violation
in a given property is a physical condition that exists in the property completely
independently of the property’s occupancy or the health status of its
occupants. As such, data pertaining...to physical conditions in a property do
not qualify as protected health information when cited or released apart from
health data. For example, a list of addresses of properties that have been cited
for code violations or found to contain lead hazards does not constitute protected
health information—regardless of whether the agency that documented the
problem is a covered entity or not and regardless of the impetus for the inspection.
Similarly, covered entities can release the names of the owners of such properties
without impediment from the Privacy Rule.”
Lead
Exposure Combined with High Blood Pressure May Harm Cognitive Abilities
A new study presented to the American Heart Association’s
annual high blood pressure conference in September finds that lead exposure
early in childhood, combined with high blood pressure in adulthood, can significantly
and negatively impact cognitive abilities later on in life.
Early-life lead exposure, already a known cause of high
blood pressure in adulthood, can combine with hypertension to effect cognitive
ability and motor function, according to the study. Researchers found impacts
in several areas, including reaction time. Higher pulse pressure and blood lead
levels were associated with slower and unstable reaction times in the study.
Hillel W. Cohen of Albert Einstein College of Medicine
in New York said, “The impact of lead on cognitive function has been well
known, and the impact of high blood pressure on cognitive function is also well
known. The fact that these two may be synergistic is not a surprise. This is
more evidence to address lead in the environment and blood pressure as well.”
EPA
Seeks Applications for 2006 Children’s Environmental Health Excellence
Awards
EPA’s Office of Children's Health Protection is accepting
applications for their 2006 Children's Environmental Health Excellence Awards.
The awards are designed to increase awareness, stimulate activity, and recognize
efforts that protect children from environmental health risks at the local,
regional, national, and international level.
The Awards are divided into five categories—Government,
Non-Governmental Organizations, Corporate, Individual, and K-12 and Higher Education.
Those applying may only do so in one category.
EPA will be looking for projects that significantly impact
children's environmental health issues through research; indicators; capacity
building; regulatory and policy innovations; education and outreach; and interventions.
Applications are due December 15, and an awards ceremony
will be held for the winners in Washington, DC, in spring 2006.
LEAP (Leadership and Enhanced Assistance Program, and not
the same as HUD’s Operation LEAP grant program) is a two-year organization
development program of the Environmental Support Center (ESC) that provides
assistance to grassroots environmental groups to build their organizational
capacity through training, support, and funding. The program aims to help groups
establish and meet capacity-building targets, learn from each other, and build
understanding among peer groups. ESC is currently accepting applications for
small grants of up to $10,000 for these activities. To be eligible, groups should
be local, state, or regional nonprofit organizations working on environmental
issues; be environmental justice organizations, environmental activist organizations,
or networks and coalitions of environmental justice and/or activist groups.
Eligible organizations must also have 501(c)(3) status and have an annual budget
between $50,000 and $500,000. The deadline to apply is November 18. For more
information about LEAP and how to apply for a grant, visit www.envsc.org.
Upcoming Conferences
Two regional conferences will bring together professionals
engaged in health, housing, community development, awareness, and advocacy to
explore ways to prevent lead poisoning and eliminate indoor environmental hazards.
The Western Regional Conference on Eliminating Childhood Lead Poisoning and
Combating Indoor Environmental Hazards will be held November 17 and 18 in San
Diego. The Midwest Regional Conference on Eliminating Childhood Lead Poisoning
and Combating Indoor Environmental Hazards will be held December 7 and 8 in
St. Louis. For more information on these conferences, visit www.leadmoldconferences.com.
CONFERENCE LOCATION AND DATE CHANGE: The American Public Health Association’s
2005 National Conference has been relocated from New Orleans to Philadelphia
and will run December 10-14. The changes were necessary in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina. For more information, see www.apha.org.
The Ohio Department of Health is sponsoring its 13th Ohio
Lead Poisoning Prevention Conference June 20-22, 2006, in Columbus. The featured
speakers and exhibitors will be from local, state, and national levels. The
conference goal is to educate healthcare and environmental professionals, parents,
and community leaders about the current medical, environmental, and programmatic
issues of childhood lead poisoning prevention in Ohio. Continuing education
units may be offered for nurses, sanitarians, and social workers. For more information,
E-mail bcfhs@odh.ohio.gov
or call Barbara Kochli Nixon at 937-285-6261.
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