Child Lead Poisoning

Incoming New York City Housing Authority Director Gregory Russ faces a number of challenges, including serious problems with lead poisoning which have existed since at least 2012. Over 400,000 people live in NYCHA’s 176,000 units, making this Authority by far the largest such organization in the country. For now, Russ and Bart Schwartz, whom a…Read the article

Officials admitted that the filters designed to keep lead out of the drinking water supply have not worked, so they have turned to Plan B. In 2018, the City of Newark (New Jersey) distributed over 40,000 water filters to local residents, in response to extremely high lead levels in the public water supply. But a random test…Read the article

“Even though the New York City Housing Authority has been under a microscope for flouting lead-paint safety regulations for years, the exact number of children residing in NYCHA public housing poisoned by lead was never disclosed. Over the weekend, the city department of health offered a number: It said that 820 children younger than 6 were…Read the article

State Sen. Gustavo Rivera recently introduced Dakota’s Law. The measure would require all state health officials to test for lead using the new standard of a maximum five micrograms per deciliter. The Bronx Democrat says the new law would “create stronger requirements to protect all New York children from lead poisoning and to address lead…Read the article

Although over 800 children in City housing projects tested positive for potentially lethal lead levels, city officials did not follow-up on the results. In 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency lowered lead exposure standards from 10 micrograms to 5 micrograms. But officials with the city health department and New York City Housing Authority continued to use…Read the article