Document yrd1eMJwnNa6Od2znaJQQeGwE

j-v*/ay-vto ** ' f efcte* SntiaS?rM*re!i;2i^g9; Continued From Page One By JOSEPH P. FRIED Small children who live -in slum buildings and the land lords who own the property have a stake in 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 nontoxic solvent to remove layers of oid paint from the walls of deteriorating apart ments. Plans for the test were decribed last week by a city health as he dis cussed a continuing contro versy over whether the 1 indssy Administration was moving with sufficient speed to meet the problem of lead poisoning in small children caused by paint and plaster bits that pea! and flake from walls and ceilings in blighted apartments. Health officials acknowledge a danger be cause the paint and plaster is often eaten bv youngsters. The community 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 poisonobs paint from apartments in blighted areas. .This kind pf 'estimated 'by toe - scientists* igreup, which;has been striv ing.to call the lead-poisoning ;situation to public attention. : Dr. Joseph A. Cimino, med- jical director of the Health jDepartment's poison control center, estimated that there[were 20,000 young children with undetected lead in their action would fee expensive for landlords and would re quire city aid, leaders of the systems at a potentially dan: gerous level, and 5,000 others with undetected lead at an community , groups acknowl already dangerous level.* edge. The scientists' group, the City, officials contend that New York Scientists! Com over-all they are moving as mittee far Public Information, quickly as they can in the gives a mere conservative situation and that, in the ^estimate of 9,000 to ISjOOQ , matter of removing the old j such youngsters with lead '? paint, economically practical ; poisoning here.. . t procedures are still being, in The committee, formed a vestigated.. j decade ago, disseminates Although toe .cause of- the ! scientific information needed peril--Jead-based apartment [ to determine public policy. paint--was Outlawed here"a | Its board of advisers includes decade ago, and the most^ .re 1 well-known doctors and sci- cent coats of paint in 'deteri , entists such as Dr. Alan Gutt- orating apartments do .not . macher, the gynecologist who contain dangerous levels of is president of Planned; Par leadj lalling paint and plaster enthood-World. Population, chips' in such apartments are In any case, all the parties still poisonous because the in the controversy agree that lead content from coats of the few hundred cases of older paint usually form'*' lead-poisoned children that sizable, part of such chips. come to the Health Depart ment's attention each year When small children eat are only a small portion of the flaking pieces--&s many the existing cases--a situa- ypungsters between the ages of 1 to. 5 do--they open themselves to a disease that can damage the kidneys and the blood and nervous sys . tion not limited to New York ' `fcityjrrr " To 'deal with the problem, i toe Health Departmentfashed tem. In its advanced stages, rsm^-listeriral task forceSiast lead poisoning tan cause pAiiigttstj and a -second grtup death or permanent mental :^is -also been formed iibaf" retardation, cerebral palsy and epilepsy. In fact, a top city health official has estimated that j Includes representatives of |. that department and of 'the ! Buildings Department, the tlje extent of the situation i Department of Rent vend $,here -is. even '-greater than' | Housing Maintenance l.4nd' Continued -Cft-Ps^t <&:-&' j Mayor Lindsay's office. Also' formed last August was a Citizens' Committee to , End Lead Poisoning, repre- renting about 20 slum-area organizations. It contends that the city task forces have been moving too slowly on ' 'jSealth services, responded, -**Within the resources we - 3qaWe. availabie. we're mor- iing as fast as we can." Although toe Health Bepartment has the legal power ; to order the removal of old coats of heavily leaded paint if tliey are a health hazard, such an order "without a ! practical suggestion for ex ecuting it is worthless," Mr. Kent said. As part of an attempt to 1 find a practical suggestion, he said, the test with the ; nontoxic solvent will be- car ried out in an old building in about two weeks, in coopera tion with the New York Paint, Varnish and lacquer i Association. Costs and results of the ' method will be compared with, those of other suggested ways of removing the. danger . of the old paint--by coveri ing walls with plasterboard i or wallboard or by burning j or sanding the paint off. The latter two methods are considered unfeasible by some because one is a fire hazard and the other would cause lead dust dangerous to workmen and tenants. . Whatever method is found least costly should be com pulsory in slum buildings, with the owners receiving tax - abatement or ether fi nancial aid to help finance i the. paint removal and resur- .. facing, .Paul . Du .Brel, a' spokesman for the citizens* committee*, said. : Landlords, ol slum .-build ings can be expected to 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 spclT build. ings have prevented them froip fighting decay and have - led to owner abandonments. 4 As a practical matter, in ; .apartments where a child has ! been found suffering from. . 'lead poisoning, ..the Health Department has ' ordered loose paint scraped away and a. new coat applied, officials say. But they admit that this is only a'temporary solution