Galveston urged to do
more about lead poisoning
Isle officials are taking
action, but experts say methods are being overlooked
By Alexis
Grant
Houston
Chronicle
June 2,
2008
More than six months after
a study showed Galveston children suffer lead poisoning at a rate nearly 10
times higher than the national average, local officials have applied for
grant money, conferred with federal officials and are moving toward
enforcing housing laws intended to protect children from exposure.
But lead-poisoning experts
who follow similar efforts across the country say Galveston authorities have
overlooked other courses of action that should be done now, such as
conducting environmental assessments at more homes of poisoned children,
regulating day care centers and disclosing a list of landlords who own
houses where poisoned children have lived.
Since the Baylor College
of Medicine study's release in November, 10 cases of lead poisoning in
children have been reported to the Galveston County Health District. Those
children, ranging in age from 2 to 8, all lived within Galveston city
limits.
"It's a large, complex
problem," said Dr. Mark Guidry, chief operating officer of the health
district and co-czar of the lead task force formed after the Baylor report
became public. "We've gotten something done from day one of Baylor research
in terms of awareness. There's a whole lot more to do."
According to the Baylor
study, one in five children on the island have high levels of lead in their
blood, which can cause irreversible neurological damage. The research was
based on data gathered by the health district between 1997 and 2003.
The lead task force, made
up of city and county officials as well as representatives of local
organizations, expects to learn soon whether the group has won grants from
the federal government and private organizations for lead education and
screening of children. City officials are applying for a grant offered
annually by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that can be
used for lead abatement.
"They are now competitive
for some money that really was not there for them before," said Winifred
Hamilton, main author of the lead report and director of environmental
health at Baylor.
County health officials
also are working with other local entities and federal officials to enforce
housing rules that pertain to lead. The health district recently began
coordinating with Galveston's housing authority to target landlords who
accept federal vouchers from low-income residents where children have tested
positive for lead, Guidry said.
Peeling paint, lead dust
from paint and contaminated soil account for most of the lead-poisoning
cases in Galveston. About three-quarters of housing there was built before
1978, the year lead paint was banned.
HUD officials months ago
opened an investigation into landlords on the island. Using information
provided by the county health district, HUD is working to enforce a federal
law that requires landlords who know there is lead on their properties to
disclose that information to tenants.
Routine tests find lead
County officials tell a
landlord there is a problem when tests show a child who lives in the
dwelling has a blood-lead level of at least 20 and an environmental assessor
concludes it likely is due to the property. In at least 17 cases during the
last three years, landlords were notified their property contains lead,
Guidry said.
Prompted by studies that
show even low levels of lead can cause neurological damage and behavioral
problems in children, some states and cities now conduct an environmental
assessment of property to determine the source of lead when a child has a
blood-lead level of 15 or 10. But in Galveston, the threshold remains 20.
The 10 Galveston children
diagnosed with lead poisoning since November all had blood-lead
concentrations of at least 10 micrograms per deciliter.
They were tested during
routine visits to their pediatricians.
"If there's no
intervention until the blood-lead (level) reaches 20, that means that folks
there appear to be comfortable with a child losing up to six to eight IQ
points and suffering irreversible intellectual damage," said Dr. John Rosen,
who oversees the lead program at Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New
York City.
Officials with Galveston's
health district say they lack the resources to inspect more homes, but one
of the grants they hope to win would put money toward that purpose.
Hamilton said city
regulations also are important. She suggested the City Council adopt a law
requiring day care centers be tested for lead and obtain lead-free
certifications.
Her report concluded that
a dozen landlords owned 20 percent of properties where poisoned children
lived. Landlords not named. Galveston officials have
not disclosed the names of those landlords, even though the properties still
may pose a threat to children.
Dana Wiltz-Beckham, the
health district's chief epidemiologist, said health officials are not
responsible for cracking down on landlords. She also said county workers
lack the technical skills to extract landlords' names from the data.
Some cities, including
Baltimore, have publicly released landlords' names to encourage property
cleanup.
"Most property owners,
even if they grumble about it, will (make their homes lead-free) because
they know instinctively it's good business," said Ruth Ann Norton, executive
director of the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning.
The Houston Chronicle, as
well as the Galveston County Daily News, requested through the Texas Public
Information Act that Galveston County release data identifying owners of
properties where poisoned children have lived. The county referred that
request to Attorney General Greg Abbott, who ruled against disclosing it in
April, citing privacy concerns for the children.
City leaders also have
discussed whether they should make landlords' names public. Galveston
Assistant City Manager Lloyd Rinderer said he considered that but questioned
whether it is legal in Texas.
Property owners may have
renovated dwellings since children who lived there tested positive for lead,
Hamilton said.
Chronicle reporter Chase
Davis contributed to this report.
Kurt Koopmann
Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health
District
Office (409) 938-2211
Cell (409) 392-0007
kkoopman@gchd.org
