Document O3L1m9vzDop8ev9N25d9rzypj

New center to tackle lead issue By H. Jane Lehman WASHINGTON-Making the home a haven aga:n for youngsters now at risk or contracting lead poisoning lies at the heart of a newly formed research organization. The National Center for Lead-Safe Hous ing, located in Columbia, Md., plans to make the elimination of unsafe living conditions, stemming mostly from deteriorating leadbased paint, the centerpiece of its efforts to alleviate childhood lead poisoning, the No. I environmental health hazard in the U.S. af flicting youngsters age 6 and under. "The approach of waiting to find a po- sioned child and then removing all lead paint [from the home] is futile," said Don Ryan, a co-founder of the center and executive direc tor of the Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning. * Formation of the center, announced late last month, represents the first major attempt to marry expertise from the housing and en vironmental health fields to tackle the prob lem, organizers said. The intent, said John Buckley, an official with the Federal National Mortgage Associa tion (Fannie Mae), whose foundation funded the center, is to make it the "preeminent en tity focusing solely on the toughest questions about how to make houses lead-safe, lit wifi be part [information] clearinghouse, part lab oratory' and part advocacy group." An estimated 3 million to 4 million chil dren suffer from lead poisoning which federal health agencies have targeted tor eradication over the next 20 years. The powerful neuro toxin, even at low levels of. ingestion, has been linked with reduced intelligence, reading See Lead, pg. 1G range. Consequently, the organization plans to begin studying now and endorse by next spring some of the more promising alternative ap proaches, such as encapsulation, said the center's president, Paul Brophy. In particular, the lead-safe home group wants to develop standards of care for landlords who, fearing open-ended liability and loss of in surance because of high cleanup costs, have threatened to abandon an estimated 5 million units from the low-income housing stock, Ryan said. The group hopes giving landlords such standards would give them something concrete to aim for and encourage them to improve their buildings instead of abandoning them. The center will also devote part of its $5.5 million in startup funds to encouraging the efforts of four or five cities working on the cut ting edge of lead prevention. Balti more and Boston are the leading candidates for the grants and technical assistance, Farr said. In general, the center also hopes to raise the overall profile of the lead-paint problem, Ryan said. "Lead questions should t>e on the radar in aD housing decisions. For example, a homeowner might con sider doing a window replacement a couple of years before energy considerations and aesthetic con siderations would have prompted him to," he said. Funding for the nonprofit organ ization was awarded by the Fannie Mae Foundation, an arm of Fan nie Mae, a major supplier of mortgage funds. The $5.5 million grant, which comes close to equating the $6 million the Fannie Mae Founda tion will otherwise award this year, was donated by former Fannie Mae chairman David O. Maxwell Maxwell, whose $19 million retire ment compensation package was criticized as exorbitant, relin quished the $5.5 million, which amounted to the final retirement payment owed him based on the company's performance in 1991. Maxwell serves as a director of one of the center's co-sponsors, the Alliance. to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, but the decision to use his donation to target the lead problem was made indepen dently, Buckley said. *0 IMS, R Mr* lahmtn. n**l Onto Him* S*r*M 49 TOC 001929 </> 3 U O Lu > at H (/) a C/D * o> -o *a c o> S3 cs w rt > x> S.g 5 =; S S4> Jrot e g22 wng.-ji "s?as E s, |r? nE igs #*>3.--*=? <U4 5*> p t/5 fl 5 c * S1553 *5S? <1* 489-a C& i: Tr3K x2z *g **2 o js gf- ! =* c " " ^_^ -1o> r'^S;?x> =2 t^hc ^2v) uo-. "Q^<vj. ^ CS 3 tii!b.- 8 2a ac "* ho c g 13 2 , S a 5 2 a = ?g (4 Ol g-S 0) * &o a a 52>, *' Bo c<2 >n> b-e 13| i |'i|s?8j ,*|5|^.8s s5 gsg? i j= &. Iras~ icIsflisits-al^s- ^2 i. =5 S . 11"^' eo = e o s'la. SJB<gBe :1JT3 6 3g: 833 a3g*i >wBo <B*d aa> 5&j mC .' S*"1 E g E V 8 3 8: cif I-. _g fJi ga* Pliii I" g fL s S g is * & *Jfj 8s ?S!3lfs-.s-e W c=3 W fe V6 g3gcf-f o2 vis w a a| a -5 ^",21 S2 = 2 * |s g 5 a * c -- t) e > e > JUS Sags a if1|| Use 1-1 g|! el iifii^lii .8?a *8*4 s-l as |?^ a "O *0 X! SS 1112-^1 x S= " >>-Q i-a c -b ,, n 2 b it 52* S' 1 gif Is i= S fj !gCeS&eSS e-se*|3Sig--|eSscs6I-sf3tJ, e--g>,sa3Sotd sKi0;=ow*J^019s.42>S"1g--21^Ss-cx3=S. 2 sI a"a * s iflHSSSSc^ oo-2.c:COiHa5 - isssll K = St % - Jill- "nil5 >s o 2 scw. ^c,wM *^5. eo . s|?s i CW MX 8 'lies f!5* * = S-f IfgS-1 sll 3S fS53 gsa| aa ,2c S l - a. o o 49 TOC 001930