Only One Out of Four High Risk Children are Screened for Lead Poisoning in Montgomery County

A new study released today by Ohio Citizen Action and Environmental Defense finds that only 24% of high-risk children in Montgomery County are screened for lead poisoning, a level well below state guidelines. The report assigned Montgomery County a failing grade for its record in testing for childhood lead poisoning. The full study can be found at www.environmentaldefense.org on the web.

“County officials need to expand their efforts to get parents and doctors to screen one- and two-year-olds for lead poisoning,” said Jane Forrest Redfern of Ohio Citizen Action. “According to the US Center for Disease Control, lead poisoning remains the number one environmental threat to kids, yet healthcare providers who fail to screen children for lead are not held accountable by local or state health authorities. We need to do more to prevent lead exposure in children.”

The study finds that between 1993 and 1998, over 3,500 children between the ages of one and five in Montgomery County were estimated to have harmful lead blood levels. Only a little over 1,000 were reported to the state, meaning there could be as many as 2,500 children in the area with high levels of lead in their blood who remain undetected and untreated. Lead poisoning can cause decreased intelligence and impaired behavioral development.

“While the County and its partners, including The Children’s Medical Center, have made progress, approximately 21,000 children live in parts of Montgomery County where most homes were built before 1950, putting them at high risk for lead poisoning, ” said Beth Wolpert, Community Relations Manager for Children’s. “Clearly, lead poisoning is still a problem and a great concern for all healthcare providers, parents, and anyone else who cares about our children. These children should be getting screened, and we will continue to pursue this effort.”

“Now is the time to get your child screened for lead. It can be part of the back-to-school or back-to-day-care doctor visits,” said Carol Andress, an economic specialist with Environmental Defense.