Childhood lead poisoning in Rhode Island held steady last year, with 1,167 new cases across the state, or 3.7 percent of screened youngsters, roughly the same as in 2003, a new state Department of Health report shows.
Poisoning rates have dropped drastically in the last decade, from 18.8 percent in 1994, to 14.7 percent in 1995, to 6.6 percent in 1998. But progress in the final stretch of Rhode Island’s effort to eradicate lead poisoning by 2010 has slowed, with rates even rising in some communities.
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While in 2003, five cities and towns had over 5 percent of their children show signs of new lead poisoning, last year it was down to three: Block Island, Central Falls and Providence.
Block Island’s 6.7-percent rate involved only two children, but in Central Falls, it was 77, up from 59 newly poisoned in 2003; in Providence, 487 new cases were identified, up from 473.
Altogether, one in 20 Rhode Island children under 6 was lead-poisoned last year, including new and existing cases, the report shows. That, Assistant Health Director Robert Marshall said in an interview, refutes arguments that the state has done enough to control the problem.
“We wouldn’t accept this if it were polio or smallpox or meningitis,” Marshall said. “This is a preventable disease; we know how to prevent what for some kids are lifelong disabilities.”
Even after the last several years’ reductions, the incidence of lead poisoning in Rhode Island is still more than double the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s estimate for the nation as a whole, one in 50 children. The reason, experts say, is the age of the housing stock; about 80 percent of housing in the state contains potential lead paint hazards.
Children in Providence’s poorest neighborhoods continue to face the greatest dangers, Health Department records show. Of 45 “high-risk premises” – properties where children have been poisoned but the lead problem hasn’t been abated – 38 are in South Providence and the West End. Those areas also account for the bulk of properties with multiple lead poisonings.
But nine communities had over 20 new lead cases last year, including not just urban areas, but also suburbs such as Cranston, Warwick and South Kingstown.
The only way to cut the numbers much lower at this point, state lead poisoning prevention manager Magaly C. Angeloni said, is to start getting “proactive,” removing lead hazards before children are poisoned. Since the entire current system is built around responding to poisonings, she said, only an approach like the Lead Hazard Mitigation Law can do that.
The report shows that outreach efforts before implementation of the law was delayed made a difference. Over 6,000 property owners attended the required three-hour Lead
Hazard Awareness Class in 2004, the report says, and over 3,300 people got help through the Housing Resources Commission’s toll-free hotline.
That wouldn’t have happened without the law, Angeloni said, and any future progress will be derailed if the law is delayed or – what she fears most – reversed altogether.
“There’s a lot of forces and external parties out there that are really pushing for a delay,” Angeloni said. “I am really concerned. If we don’t implement the Lead Hazard Mitigation Law, then property owners will not have to do anything about [lead hazards]. Some will volunteer to do it, a few here and there, but most won’t do anything.”
The full report; lists of “high-risk premises,” properties with multiple poisonings, and properties with ongoing violations; and other resources for families, property owners and other interested parties are posted online at www.health.ri.gov/lead.
