PHILADELPHIA LEAD ADVISORY GROUP RELEASES FINAL REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Group recommends legislative, policy and programmatic changes to further reduce childhood lead poisoning in the city
PHILADELPHIA — Today, Mayor Kenney accepted the final report and recommendations from the Philadelphia Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Advisory Group. The Group was formed in December 2016, following the release of the City’s Lead-Free Kids Plan. The Mayor asked the group to review the Lead-Free Kids Plan and the City’s other efforts to address lead poisoning, in order to make recommendations on how the City and other entities can reduce lead poisoning in Philadelphia. Those recommendations were released in the final report today, which can be found online.
“While lead poisoning has dramatically declined in Philadelphia in recent years, we are committed to reducing its presence even further here in Philadelphia,” said Mayor Kenney. “I’m pleased today to accept the final report from this Advisory Group, and I’d like to thank the group for their efforts. I look forward to working with City Council to make these recommendations a reality.”
The Advisory Group was composed of 22 representatives, including healthcare providers, advocacy groups, philanthropy, landlord and tenant groups, city and state elected officials, City agency leaders and external stakeholders. The Group released draft recommendations earlier this year, and accepted comment on those recommendations by email and in person at a public session. Their final recommendations include: expanding the Lead Paint Disclosure Law to all rental units built before 1978; increasing funding for landlords to remediate properties if they show financial hardship; exploring a pilot program for proactive housing inspections; and seeking state cooperation to submit a Medicaid waiver to increase funding for home remediation.
“This report is a milestone for Philadelphia,” said Dr. Farley, the City’s Health Commissioner. “The levels we are seeing today – unlike those seen 50 years ago – do not cause obvious brain damage, but can cause subtle effects on behavior, attention span, and intelligence. Accordingly, our prevention and intervention techniques needed to evolve with this disease. I believe the Lead-Free Kids Plan we adopted in December and this report will get us there.”
The number of children in Philadelphia exposed to lead continued to decline in 2016 to a new low. Only 3.4% of children under six screened had blood lead levels between 5-9 μg/dL and 0.9% of children under six screened blood lead levels greater than or equal to 10 μg/dL. These figures have decreased 75% from just a decade ago.
The report released today also contained updates on the progress made as a result of the City’s Lead-Free Kids Plan. This plan, announced in December, sought to shift the City’s policy towards lead poisoning from reactive to more focused on prevention. For example, a lead prevention paid marketing campaign aimed at parents with young children, which first ran in summer 2016, will run again this summer. The Health Department also sent notices to landlords of 4,400 properties letting them know they are likely subject to the Lead Paint Disclosure Law, and issuing code violation notices to those landlords who do not comply with the law.
The Lead-Free Kids Plan also increased coordination between the Health Department and the Department of Licenses and Inspection. Under this new plan, the Health Department and the Department of Licenses & Inspection formalized a new referral process, so that if L&I inspectors find chipping and peeling paint during an inspection, the Health Department is now notified. Additionally, a database is currently being developed that will allow L&I’s licensing system to automatically check whether landlords have submitted lead free or lead safe certificates.
“L&I and the Health Department have built a strong collaborative relationship focused on protecting children from lead exposure,” said L&I Commissioner David Perri. “L&I is committed to supporting our colleagues in this critically important work.”
At today’s press conference, the City also responded to reports that construction in Fishtown, Northern Liberties and Port Richmond were causing a spike in lead poisoning in the area.
“We’ve looked at the data extensively, and there is not a greater prevalence of high blood lead levels in the neighborhoods with former smelters than in adjacent neighborhoods,” said Dr. Farley. “It’s important to remember that over the long term, replacement of older houses, through demolition and construction, will actually help reduce lead poisoning by removing the primary source of exposure for children – lead-based paint. And, furthermore, since lead tends to reside in the topsoil, construction and other earth disturbance activity can actually help reduce the risk of lead contamination from soil.
“While it’s true that demolition of older buildings can generate dust that may contain lead from the paint on the walls, it’s important to note that this concern is lessened in Philadelphia, where demolition in occupied areas is usually conducted by hand, generating less dust. The City also enacted regulations in August requiring more demolitions to take steps to reduce dust, and L&I is currently considering additional regulation.”
“The best things concerned parents can do is to wash their children’s hands regularly and to call Air Management Service complaint line (215-685-7580) if they see dust from a demolition or construction site. Please note that dust generated from construction is much less likely to contain dust particles than dust from demolition of a house that had lead paint, but you may still call the complaint line if dust is being generated beyond the property line for any construction or demolition activity.”