Lead Poisoning in Children
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There is no safe level of lead exposure in children. According to 2006 figures, there were 54,547 children age 0-3 years in Baltimore City. Only 33 percent (18,363) of these children were tested for lead poisoning. Given that each year only a portion of Baltimore City children this age are tested, there are thousands more children who go undiagnosed. Over the years, tens of thousands Baltimore City children have been poised by lead paint. In 1998 for example, there were 56,967 children in Baltimore City. Of those, 31.2 percent were tested and 3,949 were discovered to have elevated blood lead levels. Those children are today's special education students and unfortunately a disproportionate number of tomorrow's inmates. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an African-American child is five times more likely to be poisoned by lead than a Caucasian child. Children served by Medicaid and those living in older, dilapidated properties are at highest risk.
Lead paint is in millions of houses. Thousands of children are still poisoned every year in Maryland from lead paint in their homes. When children are poisoned from lead paint they suffer a lifetime of permanent injury including brain damage, IQ loss, learning disability, impulsivity, hyperactivity, and an array of other cognitive deficits. Lead poisoned children are also more likely to end up in our juvenile services programs and incarcerated.
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