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Last year, more Maryland children were tested for lead poisoning and fewer were poisoned by lead than in any year since figures have been collected.
Results from MDE’s annual statewide Childhood Lead Registry show the percentage of tested children with elevated blood levels dropped to one half of one percent statewide. This is a 97 percent decrease in the percentage of children reported to have blood poisoning since 1993, the year before Maryland’s Reduction of Lead Risk in Housing Law went into effect.
While the number of recorded lead poisoning cases continues to decrease, because of the progress in rental housing, now children with elevated blood lead levels are more likely to live in owner occupied homes which are not covered by Maryland’s lead law. Maryland’s law focuses on residential rental properties built before 1950. A new federal Environmental Protection Agency rule adds requirements to prevent lead poisoning when work is done on privately owned homes built before the late 1970s (when lead-based paint was banned) and other facilities occupied by young children.
First Lady Katie O’Malley announced these results at an owner-occupied row home built in 1936 in East Baltimore. She was joined by MDE Deputy Secretary Robert Summers, Baltimore City Deputy Health Commissioner for Healthy Homes & Communities Dr. Madeleine Shea, EPA Region III Director of Land and Chemicals Division Abe Ferdas, and Executive Director of the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning Ruth Ann Norton.
“While even one child with elevated levels of lead is one too many, this report shows that our efforts in Maryland to end childhood lead poisoning are working,” First Lady Katie O’Malley said. “Working with many state, local, and community partners, and Baltimore City and the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, Maryland has made significant gains to protect our children, particularly those who live in older rental housing. However, we must do more. We need to spread the word that childhood lead poisoning can occur in owner-occupied homes and encourage those homeowners to take steps to prevent that from happening.”
Key statistics from the 2009 Childhood Lead Registry annual survey:
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Children tested: Statewide, 107,416 children under the age of 6 were tested, which is an increase over the 2008 figure of 106,452. In Baltimore City, 19,043 children were tested, an increase from 18,622 in 2008.
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Elevated blood lead level (EBL): 553 children (or 0.5 percent) had an elevated blood lead level, which by law is 10 micrograms per deciliter or above. This is lower than the 713 children (0.7 percent) with an elevated blood lead level in 2008. In Baltimore City, 347 children (1.8 percent) had an EBL, which is down from 468 children who had an EBL (2.5 percent) in 2008.
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New cases: Of the cases statewide for 2009, 379 were children who had an EBL for the first time.
Exposure to lead is the most significant and widespread environmental hazard for children in Maryland, and, according to the Center for Disease Control, there is no safe level of blood lead. Children are at the greatest risk from birth to age 6 while their neurological systems are being developed. Exposure to lead can cause long-term neurological damage that may be associated with learning and behavioral problems and with decreased intelligence.
The annual Childhood Lead Registry survey compiles all blood lead tests performed on Maryland children up to 18 years of age and provides blood lead test results to local health departments as needed for case management and planning. Only the data for children under the age 6 is used for review of the lead poisoning prevention effort. MDE has compiled this comprehensive assessment on statewide childhood blood lead screening since 1993. Maryland’s lead poisoning prevention goal is for no child to have an elevated blood lead level by the end of 2010.
Lead paint dust from deteriorated lead paint or from renovation is the major source of exposure for children in Maryland. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 449,000 residential houses built before 1950 of which 95 percent are likely to contain lead paint. Of the 972,000 houses constructed between 1950 and 1978, 75 percent are likely to have lead paint.
Various lead paint inspection services and accredited inspectioncontractors are available to homeowners to identify lead paint and evaluate lead paint hazards.
Anyone who removes lead paint or who performs other maintenance or home improvement projects that might create a hazard by disturbing lead paint should follow the safe practices that are included in Maryland Lead Paint Abatement Regulations. EPA recommends that anyone planning a “do-it-yourself” renovation project call the National Lead Information Center at 1-800-424-LEAD (5323) and ask for more information on how to work safely in a home with lead-based paint.
EPA’s new rule applies to anyone receiving compensation for renovating, repairing, and painting work that “disturbs painted surfaces in pre-1978 residences” and “to anyone performing similar work on facilities, such as daycare centers, occupied by children under the age of 6, and built prior to 1978.” Those affected by the rule are required to: be approved by EPA as a Certified Renovation Firm; receive necessary training and certification from an EPA-accredited training provider for Lead Safe Work Practices; assign a Certified Renovator to be present at each project; and ensure that lead safe work practices are used throughout the project.
MDE’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Program serves as the coordinating agency of statewide efforts to eliminate childhood lead poisoning.
Click here for more information about childhood lead poisoning prevention or call 410-537-3847.
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