Document 0qJ1o4QJ37zvRyDMqgoZ5qNnk

ling Exists^Onlyon-Faper cs trill hare bolli a .^crccninp ten wound up retarded for The treatment Dt Tapper and abatement pmpmi. life. < administers Is a series of Last year- the city did lake an important slop toward bol stering the enforcement ef fort. It began taking eases to Cmomnn Pleas instead of Mu nicipal Court to get stiffer penalties and increase chances of compliance. So far, Ihe health department says the new technique is working more effectively. Those cases are rarer to shots -- six to eight a osy -- day, doctors contend. Now the . far seven days. Eventually cases getting more attention this flushes the lead froril a are children who appear nor (child's system. mal, bul who really have a Unfortunately, many chil dangerous amount of lead in dren may return to the same their systems. or a similarly contaminated Dr. Ted Tapper, a young house only to be physician at Ihe Southeast again. Community Health Center, 900 South st, estimated that a fourth to a third of the chil dren he sees weekly show ex Under the Model Cities pro cess lead. gram, the Health Department Many are black, but doctors also would use new $4400 pro contend they treat children of table analyzers that will make all races and ethnic back il possible for sanitarians to grounds who eat paint chips. ' determine in minutes instead 'No one knows why the kids of days whether tains dangerous lead. a house con amounts of.' eat the paint," Dr. Tapper said. "Some people say it tas tes as good as roasted The number of cases report peanuts. I think we could say ed yearly generally has risen, at least it doesn't taste had." but Ihe increase may reflect' more parental awareness of the problem than an actual increase in the number of children-poisoned' Ten years ago, hospitals recognized and treated only 1 iltc worst victims -- children j with inflamed brains who of- I H.Tliila. Cliilf ren MMIllor Somr TtorfftTMMdel. rWa tllHdren wilt be tested for lead poisoning under a 000 IgWpnlnt jfwisonlneAtm- troi pn^?niTTT1nrrr!Tflrd by 1H* City Health Department and the Model Cities program. Ihft program also calls for fnspdcfidns of every dwelling fn the Model Cities neighbor hood for lead Ipaint hazards, removal of lifz.ardmis paint from at least homes from which children (have hern hos- pitallred and pome visits by community hH 1th workers to piomota an am arencss of the dangers of Irajl poisoning. Also, refer p| of children with dangrnpis Wood lead levels to one of ihe three Model CIM** PantMy fieallh Caro Pro* rHmtfbrhi* of stores that might Ip* selling lead- painted toys,| furniture and ofh-r etticir*v and intensive rmnmimhy education. Includ ing group' discussions and dis tribution of KPrainre. Mrs. RnWic Wnl-nn, Mod*! Odes edndnMrnlor, said fho*flo*|j of child! **n are sif. , faring from poisoning con tracted In homes built. hefom 1JHO, ? rd poisoning can cans* fifepatahln brain dam age, h* sa|d. N39134 'Controlled' By Tat*? ."I tot,, them there was ' nothing more that ! coufc do.: Tate controls City Count l. I told'them to go and sil on' Tate's doorstep until they get! the money for this." *< In a 12*3 vote Thurs ay, 'Council authorised the tr ns- fer of 21.08 million from the health and weUare der irt- ments to other city agen rtes to meet their payrolls. ' In addition to the crip na]. ffWWUHW Health Pepartr ent; appropriation to fight *ad t paint poisoning. the Wet are \ Department would Have: received $4(Ht.Qna tn hire addl- { tional gang workers. I About 10,WW children may** , unknowingly he lead pdisonf victims, Jonathan Stein, legalj > counsel for the coalition ex-- : plained. * Children* between the sees ? of one and six are ntftd tftett * the victims, betr-wlng pro* snrpfl when they eat paint that has chipped away from trails and window dlls. Council Majority I adcr George X. Schwarts, w n ar gued for passage of the fer hill, said Ihe cHI . from the Pj Government for a carl aeainst lead poisoning | Model Cities Area. ' covers North Phitadefphn. Model Olios Inrlndrs hold half of tlie rmtized 'lend bob,** from Washington aviv' In South Philadelphia t the Kensington section. am be tween the Delaware iver and the Schuylkill. Area Enlarged Coalition members *a\ the area has expanded deep into South Philadelphia and at mss the Schuylkill into West f ilia- delphia. Health Department fit ires Indicate one of every three children tested la( veer hi the "lead fceHM -- about 2\,m -- have abnormal levels of , lead in Ihrir Wood. * I The coalition, formed last year, is composed of the Welfare Rights Organisation, Sierra Cluh. Black Panther p a t t y, Citywide Tenants Council, lawyer* Committee for Civil Rights, Spring Gar den Tenants Association. Ker sington Citizens Committee, N.O.R.T.H. Tenant Council, North Philadelphia Tenant Union. bower Kensington tin- ' vlmnmental Center. North. *. Tenant Organization and n LIMITED w a r After months it vocal protests and adroi behind-thescenes lobbying community. groups succeeds in convinc-: ing City Oiuncll to appropri- ate the S600.000. Ftrds Idle S'lSrJombat Lead Poisoi In War onmake a dent in the problem -- Continued on Page 7, Col. i obvious the Model Cities bu was to finance a program to test poor children for lead, conduct a house-to-house sur vey of dwellings and provide a modest amount for removing reaucracy did not work on this too hard." Even when the program gets going, it will be a smalt drop in a big bucket. The Health Department estimates lend paint from the worst ho . at least 53.6 million a year is $600,000 'Frozen* As Paint Fells mes. needed for five years to bring No sooner was the money the ' lead poisoning problem under control. authorized than/Mayor James H. J. Tate, angry because BEYOND SLUMS Council had borrowed the One reason is because the problem is spreading beyond money from the police con ' slum areas. The department tingency fund,! froze the ap figures about 680,000 bousing propriation ana announced i.- units in Philadelphia .were had no intention of spending -built before 1940 whep most JL | Instead, the /mayor said the city could jget the same amount of funds for a lead- poisoning ctmtrol program through the Model Cities pro gram. I manufacturers stepped mak ing lead-based interior paint "Out of those, pS say we`ve probably irmoydd lead paint from about XW," added Ed ward Weiner, assistant chief of the accident control unit. "Tills gives you an idea of the There was fan important dis enormity of the problem." tinction between the two. The * Special legislation was council-appropriated money ' passed by Congress in 19?v to could have been used citywide give' cities more money for' while the Model Cities funds, lead-poisoning control. Con- when they! finally came , gress authorized - but did not through, oni; - could be used in /appropriate -- Sid million for the Mode neighborhood, this year. which genrr illy covers Nortlifcnlrai I'll ladclphia. About However, a Congressional half the citj's reported cases come from here. ' source said the administration had "not even made a request for an appropriation" and it Angry ovi r the veto, com was doubtful if anything near /SR MAYOR TATE | ... Hacking funds? meat because they are not severe cases. Unlike New York and Chicago, Philadelphia does not yet have a mass screening pro gram to go into the so-called "lead belt" and take blood samples from children. Nei ther does it have its own pro gram to remove lead paint from houses when landlords refuse or can't afford to do it. ! Now the city contracts with a private firm to remove lead in the worst cases. Model Citi- By JAMES ft. STEELE HrAwN Affair* Writer i A year after City Council ! bowed to community pressure i and appropriated $600,008 for :. a limited, war jm_chi]dhood jhas been spent. ] Tirst vetoed by the mayor | and new bogged down in the city's Model Cities program, the money has still noli come through to combat "Ihe silent epidemic of the slums,'] as the disease is called. j Meanwhile, In qrowded waiting rooms of inner-city hospitals, where mothers com fort their ailing children and wait for their names fa be call ed, doctors arc beginning to * see a familiar sign if warm weather. It comes in the fun i of chilj dren -- usually poor children between the ages ol one and three -- who may lor < healthy at first glance, but vpo slowly i are being poisoned with lead. munity gro ips marched on City llall, d rnanded meetings with the mo ror and waged an unsuccessful campaign to get the 518 million will be appro priated this year. FEW WEAPONS | All winter, many Have cateitlead-based paint fviking off 1 aging walls and windowsills in , slum housing. The fcad is de Tate to din igc his mind. His Meanwhile, this leaves the posited in Ihe fluid's long decision hcl I. health department with few {bones. ] Now. on t ic ere of aaothcr summer ot cad-pnisoncd chil dren, even the Model Cities program isn l off the ground. MANV PRC 1LEMS William St ill, deputy Model Cities admit istratar, said the delay was doused by a ``se quence of rubiems,*' These included fin; I approval by Die Federal guv mittcnt and City Council and t change in civil weapons to fight Ihe war. Under a 1966 ordinance, the department -has the power to order any Inndlord or home owner to remove lead paint from a dwelling where it de cides that a hazard exists. But with its limited budget, the deportment generally ins pects only those house whore a child already has been re ported poisoned. SOARS IN SUMMER Cases arc reported yearround, but the number soars in the summer. Warm weather activates Inc lead, for reasons doctors dp not fully understand, and di/a-barges the mineral into a child's blood stream and tissuei The result canj leave die ' child listless, naiucous, men tally retarded i>r,l in extreme sen-ice rego aliens so Model "We just don't hare the cases, dead. Kigljly-nino chil* Cities reside) Is could be hired far the prog am, ns Federal taw requires.'. Will maintained these prob lems now have been solved. resources to really go out into the community and sercet children to find out if' thou sauds are being chronica)!.* poisoned," Weiner added. dreu have died and thousands have been stricken in Phila delphia alone tpe last 20 years. A year ago tlds month, com lie safit signing of the $<*00,000 LACK TREATMENT munity groups 1 id hope the contract with the health de Community leaders Ion partment was `'imminent.'' have charged that thousand city was about to iiggrcssi attack the disenst here f "I douT know where Ihe delay has come," said Jena- than Stein of Community Lec .... .. **. ,, i ihinl; It's of small children are poisnne every year, often resulting i menial retardation < shm ness, hut never gel trea first time.