By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
SALAMANCA — There is no safe threshold of lead exposure, but young children are being used as lead detectors, a presenter stated at the Lead Partnership’s second annual Lead Poisoning Education Conference Thursday at the Seneca-Allegany Resort and Casino.
More than 100 people including experts and organizations and community partners in preventing lead poisoning from around Western New York attended the conference.
Lisa Schmidtfrerick-Miller of the Chautauqua County Health Department, who said kids being used as lead detectors, emphasized the exposure is preventable.
How do we move from finding out there is a lead problem in a home by detecting high lead levels in the blood of children from ages one and two to prevention?
“That’s why we’re here today,” Schmidtfrerick-Miller replied.
The objective of the conference was to inspire, educate and strengthen connections in the fight against lead poisoning.
Erin Washburn of the Cattaraugus County Health Department recounted the experience of a single mother who learned her two-year-old child had been exposed to lead in their home. She was filled with fear and guilt when she was told by their pediatrician that her child had an elevated lead level. “She blamed herself.”
An air conditioner was spreading lead dust from the window it was sitting in. The house had been built before lead paint was banned in 1978, Washburn said. Many people aren’t aware of the dangers of lead paint, she added. The young mother told Washburn: “I wish the first time I scraped and painted I’d known it was lead.”
The child’s blood lead level has dropped from 8 micrograms per deciliter to 4, one point below the new CDC reference level of 5 micrograms per deciliter. That is the action level at which county health departments move to find the source of lead in a home and require its safe removal.
One attendee spoke of landlords who require tenants not to report lead results, which is illegal. Still, she said, families have been evicted from apartments or homes they rent after an elevated lead level in blood is reported. Faced with being homeless, some families don’t address the problem with a landlord.
However, once a child tests over 5 micrograms per deciliter, the county health department determines where the exposure is located and the owner is directed to safely remediate the property. In Cattaraugus County, landlords have been fined thousands of dollars for failing to address lead paint issues.
Children with high levels of lead in their blood may suffer neurological impairment, retarded growth and development, anemia, behavioral problems and renal dysfunction. Signs of lead poisoning in infants include irritability, loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue and vomiting.
One of the greatest exposures comes from flaking lead-based paint, which has a sweet taste that appeals to infants and small children. The dust from lead paint can spread and be inhaled in a number of ways.
Ann Marie Sitter-Tompkins, founder of Operation Warm Hearts in Olean and Robin Fuller, director of the Allegany County Child Development Center, joined Schmidtfrerick-Miller in answering questions from a moderator and attendees.
Sitter-Tompkins, is a former public health fellow at the Cattaraugus County Health Department runs Operation Warm Hearts, which provides clothing and other items to needy children. It also provides lead poisoning information and education
The group often hosts giveaways for clients and invites organizations like WIC and the Health Department to attend to share information with families. WIC, for example, has tested a large number of children for lead exposure through its partnership with Operation Warm Hearts, Sitter-Tompkins told attendees.
The important thing Operation Warm Hearts brings to the table is trust with the community. “We want to have as many community partners as possible,” she said
In Chautauqua County, the Lead Poisoning Task Force has been renamed Healthy Housing, Schmidtfrerick said. The state legislature failed to pass a point of sale disclosure that there is lead paint in a home being purchased. It is expected to be introduced again next year, she added. “We need to encourage decision makers to take this problem more seriously.”
Jennifer Becker, a senior public health specialist in the General Pediatrics Division at the University of Rochester Medical Center, was the keynote speaker. She is active in Rochester’s Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning and is chairman of the Finger Lakes Coalition to Stop Lead Poisoning.
While no longer a component in gasoline, lead paint persists in housing built before 1980, Becker explained. Nearly three-quarters of the state’s housing was built before that. In rural counties like Cattaraugus, the percentage of older homes is likely higher.
Lead paint in a home remains dangerous even if it has been covered over. Exposure from kitchens and bathrooms, windows and doors, plumbing pipes and solder, toys and jewelry and occupational exposure continue to occur.
A leading means of exposure is home renovation where there is lead paint. If remediation of lead paint is not done properly, the lead dust can be spread over a large area.
The effects of lead poisoning can include an irreversible loss of IQ and auditory processing difficulties, Becker said. The action level for lead in a child’s blood continues to go down. In 1991, for example, it was 10 micrograms per deciliter, and dropped to 5 in 2012. A new reference level of 3.5 is being proposed.
Becker said remediation and prevention of lead poisoning is costly, but cost effective. File each dollar spent on lead prevention, the return is between $17 and $221. “It’s well worth the price,” she added.
Becker urged participants to keep their focus on preventing lead poisoning in kids and pregnant women.
Some promising resources for lead pipe replacement and proactive housing initiatives including educating code enforcement officers on lead paint dangers and requiring a lead certification by contractors.
More work needs to be done to include rural counties in replacing lead pipes in home water supplies, she said.
Prevention of lead poisoning is the key, Becker said. “It’s both costly and cost-effective.”
An award for Above and Beyond was presented to Operation Warm Hearts, Ardent Solutions (Allegany County), Chautauqua Opportunities Inc., and Seneca Nation Community Planning and Development Department.
A Provider Excellence in Lead Testing Award was also presented to Jones Memorial Hospital Pediatrics, Southern Tier Pediatrics, Randolph; Jamestown Pediatric Associates and the Seneca Nation Health System’s Lionel John Health Center and the Cattaraugus Territory Health Clinic.
