Detroit Learns from Lead Program: Children's Health Can't Be Compromised
Making children's health standards less stringent is bad policy, the city of Detroit recently learned.
The city revamped its anti-lead program, doubling the level of lead needed in one's blood for treatment from 10 to 20 micrograms per deciliter. The change made the program more efficient, but less safe for Detroit's children.
As a result, more than three quarters of Detroit's lead poisoned kids became ineligible for treatment. Three months later, with much opposition from the Prosecutor's Office, the standard was decreased back to 10, The Detroit Free Press reports.
Lead is dangerous to everyone, but especially children. Lead can cause brain and neurological damage and harm hearing and kidney functions. High levels can result in seizures and death.
Once a child is diagnosed with lead poisoning, there is no cure. So it's important to keep the standard at a level where children can receive treatment before it's too late.
Thanks to the Prosecutor's Office. This is a step in the right direction for children's health in Detroit, where more than 15,000 addresses have been identified with at least one child that has an elevated lead level.
--- Image via EPA.
Comments
Woefully Underinformed
Michigan LCV, you are woefully underinformed. Rather than thanking the Prosecutor's Office, you should hold them accountable for for the damage their sabre-rattling has done to the most severely poisoned children in Detroit. Grandstanding and self-promotion by Mary Morrow resulted in complete misrepresentations of the program's changes which were recommended by the CDC and Michigan Department of Community Health. The Free Press article was instigated by factual omissions (lies) by Morrow whose false claim that any children were made ineligible for treatment has been repeated by the underinformed (such as you) ad nauseum. Furthermore, there is no such thing as "treatment before it's too late." You correctly state that there is no cure. Once children have been poisoned, they cannot be unpoisoned. The only "treatment" is prevention. Morrow's use of the most severly poisoned children as political footballs is reprehensible. For the truth, read the Spirit of Detroit Blog and petition county and federal leaders to get to the bottom of this for the sake of the kids. Sign the Petition to Fix Detroit's Lead Program.