Document 1OEdb42nEneRowb3KYpegj55

t&eJfefcrJ!ork&mti j C^Pfoject^EkSeek-Way-to ,SotidajrrMtreh2 1969; I Continued From Page One Paint-Poison Danger To Children Fought -by tha sdehtm** .to*wop, whfchbu been striv ing call the laad-poiaoning situation to public attention. Dr. Joseph A. Chaino, medjfcai director of the Health {Department's poison control outer, estimated that there{wen 20,000 young children By JOSEPH P. FRIED Smah children who live -m slum buildings and the land lord* who own the property hive a stake ir. a test project soon to be undertaken by the city in cooperation with a paint-industry trade associa tion. The test will be to deter mine the effectiveness and economic feasibility of using a r.ontoxic solvent to remove 'avers of old paint from the wills of deteriorating apart ments. Plans for the test were dec-ibed las! week by a city hej '.h cr':.as he dis cussed a continuing contro versy o'.?- whether the I ind*?; Ac.nir.istratiVn was moving with sufficient speed to met: the problem of lead poisoning :n small children caused by paint and plaster bits that pc-o! and flake from walls and ceilings in blighted apartment:. Health officials acknowledge a danger be cause the paint and plaster is often eaten by youngsters. The ccir.nvmity groups charge that the city is not moving fast enough to de velop a program to deal with the problem. Such a program, they hold, should include not' only more thorough and systematic procedures for de tecting lead poisoning in slum children, but also the removal of old -coats of poisonous paint from apartments in biigbted areas. .Ibis kind of action would be expensive for landlords and would re quire city aid, leaders of the community group* acknowl edge. City officials contend that over-all they are moving as quickly as they can in the situation and that, in the matter of removing the old paint, economically practical procedures an still being in vestigated. . Although the cause of the peril--lead-based apartment paint--was outlawed here' a decade ago, and the most re cent coats of paint in deteri orating apartments do .not contain dangerous levels of lead, falling paint and plaster chips' in such apartments are still poisonous because the lead content from coats of older paint usually form V sizable part of such chips. 'e When small children eat the flaking pieces-** many ypungsters between the* ages of 1 to. 5 doi-tbey open themselves to a disease that can damage the kidneys and the blood and nervous sys tem. in its adsanoed wages, lead poisoning can cause death or permanent mental retardation, cerebral palsy and epilepsy. In fact, a top dty health official has estimated that the extent of the situation hare -to even pastor than Continued o r -Fqge J;-Git B with undetected lead in their systems at a potentially dan gerous level and 0,000 others with undetected lead at as already dangerous level" : The dentists' group, the Hew York Scientists' Com- Bittee for Public Information, gives a more coneervatiye utimste of 0.000 to JS.OOQ ; inch youngsters with lean f . poisoning here.. f The committee, formed a I decade ago, disseminates ' scientific Information needed ` to determine public policy. Its board of advisers includes well-known doctors and ad- . entists such as Dr. Alan Gutt- maefaer, the gynecologist who Is president of Planned Par enthood > World Population. In any case, all the parties in the controversy agree that the few hundred cases of lead-poisoned children that come to the Health Depart ment's attention each year - are only a small -portion of the existing cases--a situa tion not limited to New York tit*:*...... . To deal with the problem^ i tiw Health Department faiihtd **-tatoreal task forc~fcst :'**"* * eoo* g*P : nas alio been formed ^feat' { Indudea representatives . of j that department and of'the ' Buildings Departmenl the Department' of Rant -and | Housing Maintenance 4nd i Mayor Lindsay's office... . Also' formed last August was a Citizens' Committee to NL ^ 002303 , End Lead Poisoning, repre senting about 20 shmMrea organizations. It contends that the dty teak forces have been moving too slowly on the problem. ' louses health cervices, responded. - "Within the resources we : hate available, we're mov' tog as fast as we can." Although die Health IX; pertinent hes the legal power ' to order tlie removal of eld coate of heavily leaded paint if they are a health hazard, . soch 'an order "without a ! practical suggestion for ex ecuting it is worthless," Mr. Kent said. As part--of an attempt to ' find a practical suggestion. he said, the test with the ; nontoxic solvent wiil be ear, ried out in an old bu-'dirg in about two weeks, in coo(>era tion with the New Vcrk Paint, Varnish and Lacquer - Association. Costs and results of the method will be compared with those of other snggestsd ways of retrevins the danger of the old paint--by cover! lag walls with plaste'-boa-d ; or wallboard or by burning l or sanding the pair*, cff. - The lar.c* two methods ere considered unfeasible by some because one Is a fire hazard and the ot'r-r would cause lead dost df.igerot-' to workmen and tenants, Whatev- method is found least costly should h" rompulsory in slum buildings, with the owners rcce-ving tax abatement cr other fi nancial aid to help finance ' the paint removal and resur facing, Paul Du Brel, a' Spokesman for the citizens' committee, said. landlords oi slum , build-lags can be expected te argue that the demanded paint re moval can be carried out i only with full city aid. These owners contend that con trolled rents in such build. tags have prevented them froip fighting decay and have - led to owner abandonments * As * practical matter, in - apartments where a child has 1 been found suffering from . lead poisoning, . the Health Department has ordered Iqose paint scraped away and a. new coat applied, officials . say. But they admit that this ! is only a-temporary solution , because cracking and crumj bling walls will soon drop the