Lead poisoning is a long-standing health issue among children who live in public housing across the country. Sadly, we often don’t know exactly how many have been affected since cities aren’t required to adhere to recommendations made by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). This is exactly what has happened in New York City. Last month, it was discovered that 820 children living in public housing, ages 5 and under, tested positive for lead poisoning. That is a staggering and unacceptable number. But it’s also well-below the 19 kids (yes, you read that right!) that the city claims have tested positive for blood-lead levels over the last ten years.
Why the discrepancy? It’s because the city doesn’t count the kids whose levels match the CDC recommendations, even though they know who they are. The CDC recommends interventions for children ages 5 and under with elevated lead levels of 5 to 9 micrograms per deciliter of blood. But, apparently, some folks at the New York City Health Department feel it’s okay to ignore CDC recommendations and endanger the public. As a result, they have their own, very conservative lead level requirements (10 micrograms or more) which must be met before they do an investigation. This means that the Health Department knew these children had lead poisoning but didn’t include them in their numbers. They also never worked with the Housing Authority to have them check for lead paint in the apartments these kids were living in. This isn’t just a case of bureaucracy. This is negligence and the purposeful endangerment of the health of poor, mainly black and brown children.
It’s too bad that Mayor de Blasio isn’t outraged by this. After all, he should be. These kids have tested positive for lead poisoning in the last six years alone. Which means that the local government has completely failed to do its job to work for the health and well-being of the most vulnerable kids. It also means the city’s estimates of what counts as lead poisoning isn’t working. It’s indefensible. But de Blasio seems to be standing by these agencies. According to the New York Daily News, de Blasio says: "there has not been harm done to any child because of the mistakes that have been made.”
That’s laughable. What exactly is it when 820 toddlers test positive for lead poisoning and are left to rot—made to stay in the same apartments with the very conditions that got them sick in the first place? And to be clear, while lead poisoning is treatable, it can also cause all kinds of developmental delays and even mental and physical impairments. It’s a huge reason why so many kids in low-income areas struggle in schools. And research confirms that it is low-income families with children under the age of 6 that are most at risk for living in homes with lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards.
Once again, America is proving how much it hates the poor and that it can come up with infinite ways to punish them and their kids. Not only are we content to compromise the health and well-being of poor kids, we are also content to see them struggle in school as a result. None of this is new, but it remains abhorrent and yet another sign of how desperately we need change. Welcome to America in 2018—where we kidnap the babies of asylum seekers and silently allow hundreds of poor children of color to get sick with lead poisoning. This is completely shameful.