Document amK0DoEkmDzwdMkp24aX74xX
fjeaded Indoor Ppint, Vf,
Lead Paint Ban Asked /
ItolMin WoshinxUm Bureau ' chide M percent of U|R. homes.
Wshwglon -- Km. Richard S. ;5rhntikr (R-J today ininvj
The bill for every
calls for IliOOO violation.
fines
)rj>islalion to prohibit in1
Off Market 30 Years,
WallPaintSill Urged , Still Kills in Slums
By Schweiker, Kennedy'
tiA9`K7Dfrra
Washington--(UP1)--Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Moss) and
Children Eat tlte Peeling Paum
Richard S. Sdnrelker (R-Pa),.
In Old, Decaying Tenements;
U* 5. home* the
of paints
containing more than one per*
urged yesterday enactment of a! federal law to curb lha use of|
The Tragic Stoty of Gregory^'
jefutfcad.*
g
aor*d Ty 'Senate Republican
leader llugfc Scott and U other rnalnrs, is designed to ellm(tine? 0*** dans^r of c WWm* eating flakes of paint/ from piaster and woodwork, f
"Repeated ingestion 6f lead pigments and lead additives ran lead to mental reMdMtkm, rcrehral palsy, optic atrophy, I'impatrmmt of inlrllcrWM ahittRy and death,*4 said ScKweikcr.
lie said that in IW) there! were A& confirmed cSsses of k5g(potonwwg Ik Philadelphia, d^ny' M bTark and1 Puerto Rican nelghhorhontls. (
Ihe hill requires landlords and homeowner* to remove or cover esisfing lead paint sue*! faces of homes leered by the!
IMS pair Housing Act. Srhweh kr estimated this would In*
nrall palate which they say pois
ons thousand* of children Is , dam touilni tttry year.
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By Ev e x e r Gs o s k c l o s e
I
1
Staff RtfOHtr OfTHB Wa U. St r c ET JOVkMAXs {
Thsytojflfiel an tin problem | HEW YORK - For the William Fraakltoi of(lead poisoning before a Sen-' family, the experience was terrtfjdng aM` nteTiEcSSSlttteewhlch la ho'd- tragic. When Mrs. Franklin awakened last]
Sept. 10, her two-year-old eon, Gregory,.are*'
lying uncooectoue te bed beside her.
According to Scfeweiker nt The Franklins rushed Gregory to a hospital.
Kennedy, at many as 120,OH I His case was diagnosed as acute lead poisoning4 children in New York City atom (--the result of his having eaten paint that' ara exposed eac_h year to Uu [flaked off the celling or chipped off the wall toi
dangers ofteadholtaahuM die : toe family's slum apartment to Harlem. .
e. ta,f t-h-a-t eaaan ceetausm, hpeerrmmatnneeaml "Ufa damage or death..
L F?rAw".l!*it
" "?*"* "!
. but bo didn't. After almost taro months of
. treatment, be left the hospital, but ho ana
! hardly a picture of health. He was blind, deaf
and could no longer talk and ha had suffered
:severe mental retardaUon. Today Oragory*s,
sight baa returned and be la uttering a few'
illiatt Voted eod Paint Fight
!P> --The
House voted yesterday to au thorize |30 mlUion over (wo years for programs to elimi nate lead-baaed paint, a reuse Of poisoning of many children.
Inc tunas would he used /or grams of up to tS percent of (he cost of local programs de signed to delect and render harmless surfaces covered with tead-hnsed paint.
Most bjiiWinc* a/torftvl wore
sounds, but ba to still deaf and badly retarded..
Medical authorities say he probably will never
be normal.
V-dfV '
In one sense, however, Gregory la all loo
.normal. In many ways ho is typical of thoifc,
,sands of atom children who have beesTpoleaned
' by old paint In decaying tenements.
no waj-tu know exactly bow many chlldren-
have been gravely injured because only tha,
worst cases--those near death-show 19 at the-
hospitals. We have to believe that a much,
larger number are never detected,'* ueya Drt'!
Jane & Un-Ku, an authority on load poisoning,
and a consultant to the Department of
. Education and Welfare.
-RetRible flSfflrce on the scope of lead pouan-
tog are hard lo came by. Sumo experts say that
2S0,000 to <00,000 children In the U.S. may have)
UlafiWRdi \* OimniU .
dangerous enscs of lead poisoning at any given'
Tl%e cennomlca t etitm property to aim a
tig consideration, landlords are often reluc*
teat to pomp money Into older huihUngs for
routine maintenance, allowing toteriers to dote*
riorate. Municipal housing authorities, usually
understaffed and preoccupied with other prob
lems, are frequently lax about enforcing hous
ing raaintenanm codes because they fear land-
(onto itiighl abandon old buildings, thereby!
cnuxJiyr rvf'ii more problems.
|
Moreover, critics any that because symp
toms of lead poisoning--headaches, dizziness, .constipation and general crankiness--arc so
similar to symptoms of the common cold and
flu (hat medical authorities sometimes mistake
lead poisoning for other ailments. Extended
Ingestion of lead-laden paint can cause convul-
scons, coma and brain damage.
even when lead poisoning to suspected, dl*
agnosfs often Is hard. Urine analysis eon be
helpful, but most doctors agree that a blood
fnd'-ifsrif Utr from foolproof--is (he most reli
able (Ifcignastic method. But to many cities,
laboratory faculties are swamped with work,. and It can be severe! days before test result*
are known. Treatment for severe cases usually
calls tor agents that Induce vomiting and diar*
shea.
buildings In which children are poisoned. Zt
While lead poisoning to nothing new, it to at landlords refuse, city workers will do the job tracting new concern. Neighborhood groups [and then MU the landlord.
formed lo tight the problem have been gaining influence lu recent months. Largely aa a result of pressure from well groups. New York'
Hxyar John V. Uwteay to expected to aniKttmcc n major rity-sponsored drive against lead piKniiir within a few weeks. lt*s under
Despite auch signs of progress, some groups are still disenchanted with public health efforts to combat lead poisoning and are acting on their own. teat month, a radical Puerto Kirin group called the Young Lords, along with vol. untecr Interna and medical students, tested lot
stood that Mr. Untfcsty will urge public health slum ` children In a door-to-door program to
official* in nrf*MHnriiaod clinics to be parUcu- Harlem. According to Juan Gonzales, a Young
liuy alert for lead poisoning symptoms and to * fjord, uurine tufa d,iswc_lo,,swed,Apo,nsitive signs of pcisupply literature toVr.nl/wbo visit b. clta-j*M0'H*lM* In 3i*#%. owf thse-----c--hwil"dr--e--n-- .
Z, 1 Concent Is also mounting *t the Federal
.time, but others say the figure la probably,
.much lower. In any event, a huge number of.
children ate Involved. In New York alone, city;
ihealth officials estimate that ax many a*'8,000
children are daageroualy poisoned. Two deaths
IIn New Vork were attributed to lead poisoning' last year, and live occurred to IMS; itaHenai.
figures aren't available.
I Eating Fatal and Flnatnr
i
The victims of load poisoning ara almost ah'
ways children between one and she yean old.
Usually, three children have pica, a craving
for nonfood substances that may lead them to
eat chips ol paint and plaster that they Und on
the floor or peel oft the walls.
Almost Invariably, lead poisoning victims
live In poor neighborhoods. Faint manufactur
ers stopped making leaded paint for Interior
use about 30 yean ago; thus, moat buildings
that have gone up since the beginning of world
War If have never been painted with leaded
paint. But In older structures In cities such as,
New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Minneap
olis, leaded paint--often cracked, peeling and
covered by several layers of ruraleaded paint-- I
la still on the walls.
"The tragedy of ft all It that lead poisoning]
could have been stopped many yean ago by
either removing the old paint or by covering ft
with waUboard so that kids couldn't get to ft--
yet It goes on year after year," says Dr. Paul
B. Comely, president of the American Public
Health Association and a community healthex
pert at Howard university In Washington.
- A major factor la that many parents aren't
aware Ural paint chips ran harm children.
Slum buildings are also more likely not to have
elevator service. To avoid carrying toddlers up
and dawn stairs, parents sometimes leave chil
dren unattended while they run errands.
'One or the most Imports thing. we on 'owl. Sen.^wrd Kewedy of MrtietU
do Is to get the message across to parents to."* ?p-T1
1,.--* -^,*
the slums that paint can be dsngerou-end ' bhfoducml Hite to ne FederaltimM aviai-
Uien we wont lo Und now ways to toco the city
J0**' Ecvemmcnte for dcJtion and
health and housing ogenclcs to do the Job they jtreatment programs- The *>* would also proare supposed lo be doing." >' Paid A. Du'.'v/de lor IhenrrvMonond eventual ellmlnn-
N39169
Ibiil. a rlly planner who 1* rhairnuin of a New ihon of so-called high ttek housing onlta.
fork group catted the CtUi.ni' CommtUea to' nd lead Potsontng.
Major progrcaa la beto, made. For oxarapie. New York last month enacted a law--said to be Ike toughest In lira country - -that requires landlords to make irpsirs within five days on
CrtUea contend that a shortcoming to the handling 01 land poisoning cases la that chil formation, says. "One of our first priorities has dren often no returned to the came housing got to be keeping these children from being
condlthnu where they were poisoned. Glenn reexpaoed lo a poisonous environment, si well Paulson, co-chairman of a Now York group ns protecting other children In the household called the Scientists' Commutes tor Public In-!until a permanent solution can ba found.-