Bold New Drive to Eliminate Lead Poisoning Announced by National Center for Healthy Housing and the National Safe and Healthy Housing Coalition

Call for national action to eliminate lead poisoning in the wake of Flint Water Crisis

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May 12, 2016, 01:37 ET

COLUMBIA, Md., May 12, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) and the National Safe and Healthy Housing Coalition (Coalition) announced Find It, Fix It, Fund It, an action drive that urges Congress and the Administration to develop and implement a bold, comprehensive national plan to eliminate lead paint hazards and replace lead pipes.

"Lead poisoning is a preventable tragedy," said NCHH's Executive Director, Nancy Rockett Eldridge. "This call to action lays out the necessary steps to win the fight against lead poisoning—to find lead hazards before they harm children, to fix these hazards using both short- and long-term proven methods, and to fund these critical efforts."

Said Roberta Hazen Aaronson, Executive Director of the Childhood Lead Action Project, who also serves on the Coalition's steering committee: "Eliminating lead poisoning could be America's greatest public health success story of our time, similar to eliminating cholera and other epidemics caused in part by inadequate housing a century ago."

Over 535,000 children under six have elevated blood lead levels (readings above the CDC reference level). Childhood exposure to lead has lifelong consequences, including decreased IQ and cognitive function, developmental delays, and behavior problems; very high levels can cause seizures, coma, and even death.

NCHH and the Coalition are calling for immediate steps by Congress during its current appropriations process to address urgent need by dramatically increasing funding. They cite studies showing that lead poisoning prevention could achieve enormous cost savings. In 2008, the socioeconomic costs of lead poisoning alone were estimated at a minimum of $50 billion. The estimated return on investment for HUD's lead hazard control is $17-$221 per dollar spent.

"We're working closely with leaders in Congress and the Administration, with critical national, state, and local allies, and with the hundreds of Coalition members who fight lead poisoning every day. We want to ensure that the awareness created by Flint and other tragedies leads to an ultimate comprehensive victory over lead poisoning," said Ms. Eldridge.

Learn more about the Find it, Fix It, Fund It action drive and lead advocacy efforts here.

CONTACT: David Jacobs, 202-607-0938, [email protected]

SOURCE National Center for Healthy Housing