CDC Can No Longer Help Prevent Lead Poisoning in Children

More from the article...

... On April 1, the staff of the CDC's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program was terminated as part of the agency's reduction in force, according to NPR. The staff included epidemiologists, statisticians, and advisors who specialized in lead exposures and responses.

The cuts were immediately consequential to health officials in Milwaukee, who are currently dealing with a lead exposure crisis in public schools. Six schools have had to close, displacing 1,800 students. In April, the city requested help from the CDC's lead experts, but the request was denied -- there was no one left to help.

In a Congressional hearing this week, US health secretary and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told lawmakers, "We have a team in Milwaukee."

But Milwaukee Health Commissioner Mike Totoraitis told NPR that this is false. "There is no team in Milwaukee," he said. "We had a single [federal] staff person come to Milwaukee for a brief period to help validate a machine, but that was separate from the formal request that we had for a small team to actually come to Milwaukee for our Milwaukee Public Schools investigation and ongoing support there." ...

Remember Flint, Michigan a few years ago?

Here's a refresher ...

Flint Water Crisis: Everything You Need to Know
www.nrdc.org

... After officials repeatedly dismissed claims that Flint's water was making people sick, residents took action. Here's how the lead contamination crisis unfolded ...

Lead levels in Flint water

Soon after the city began supplying residents with Flint River water in April 2014, residents started complaining that the water from their taps looked, smelled, and tasted foul. Despite protests by residents lugging jugs of discolored water, officials maintained that the water was safe.

A study conducted the following year by researchers at Virginia Tech revealed the problem: Water samples collected from 252 homes through a resident-organized effort indicated citywide lead levels had spiked, with nearly 17 percent of samples registering above the federal action level of 15 parts per billion (ppb), the level at which corrective action must be taken. More than 40 percent measured above 5 ppb of lead, which the researchers considered an indication of a "very serious" problem.

Even more alarming were findings reported in September 2015 by Flint pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha: The incidence of elevated blood-lead levels in children citywide had nearly doubled since 2014"and nearly tripled in certain neighborhoods.

As Hanna-Attisha noted, "Lead is one of the most damning things you can do to a child in their entire life-course trajectory." In Flint, nearly 9,000 children were supplied lead-contaminated water for 18 months. ...

How does lead affect the human body?

Lead poisoning
www.mayoclinic.org

... Overview

Lead poisoning occurs when lead builds up in the body, often over months or years. Even small amounts of lead can cause serious health problems. Children younger than 6 years are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can severely affect mental and physical development. At very high levels, lead poisoning can be fatal.

...

Lead poisoning symptoms in children

Signs and symptoms of lead poisoning in children include:

- - - Developmental delay

- - - Learning difficulties

...

@#14

So, the top two signs and symptoms of lead poisoning seem to be development of intelligence?

Wow, no wonder MAGA looks to be so in favor of lead poisoning.

@#16

FTFY ...

... We could have spent billions cleaning up all the ---- we have spewed where we eat.

Instead, we spent trillions giving tax breaks to the rich. ...