Children in New Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury, Hartford and Meriden made up 49% of elevated lead level cases between 2012 and 2020. And, , lead poisoning disproportionately hits children of color 鈥� affecting mental, behavioral and educational health.
鈥淚f you think about a preventable cause for those types of delays and problems, lead is such an important contributor,鈥� said Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the 黑料吃瓜网 Department of Public Health. 鈥淎nd, as we see, it affects those most vulnerable, our Black and brown communities and older housing stock in our inner cities. And so this is really also an issue of equity.鈥�
new measures that take effect in 2023. Those include increasing testing requirements for primary care providers to add annual lead testing for certain children. It also lowers the threshold for blood lead levels that require state and local health officials to take immediate action.
These changes mandate reporting to the Department of Public Health within 24 hours.
鈥淭he trigger for it to be within a day needing to be reported is important, because [it] then gives the capability to the state to work and inform local health departments, who, then, would get these reports and be able to start the whole process of abatement that would eventually need to occur in a home,鈥� Juthani said. She noted that there is $30 million in federal funding slated to further help with local abatement efforts.
Lastly, the law set up a working group, which will report back to lawmakers by year鈥檚 end.
In a news release when the bill was signed into law, Lamont said the moves were overdue.
鈥淐hildhood lead poisoning has catastrophic impacts on health and development, including irreversible learning and developmental disabilities,鈥� Lamont said. 鈥淚n particular, this problem has most deeply impacted minority families and those who live in disadvantaged communities. For too long, the standards for lead testing and treatment in 黑料吃瓜网 have fallen well behind the best practices, and I am glad we are making these long-overdue updates.鈥�
