they have been trying to get lead out of D.C. children for decades

[ensho]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080303003.html?wpisrc=newsletter

More D.C. Kids Had Elevated Lead Than Stated


More than twice as many D.C. children as previously reported by federal and local health officials had high levels of lead in their blood amid the city's drinking water crisis, according to congressional investigators, throwing into doubt assurances by those officials that the lead in tap water did not seriously harm city children.

-snip-

Local officials could not say Monday whether some children with unsafe lead exposure have gone without intervention to reduce health risks.

The CDC and city health department had reported dangerously high lead levels in 193 children in 2003, the worst year for high concentrations of lead in city tap water. But lab data gathered by congressional investigators this year show that the actual number was 486 children.

-snip-

In letters sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) on Monday evening, Miller requested more agency documents. He said the CDC should have known it had "wildly incomplete" data when it published research that "suggested there was no danger to children and the public from elevated lead levels in the water."

-snip-

Recent research at Children's National Medical Center indicates that children who lived in neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of lead in the water -- Capitol Hill, Columbia Heights and northern sections of Ward 4 -- were much more likely to have elevated lead in their bloodstream.
-snip-
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40 yrs. ago they were trying to get lead from paint out of the kids in D.C.

will it ever end?

lead affects the brain!

[-..__...]

1. I thought this was going to be about DCs high crime rate and gang activity.

[vadawg]

2. took me a minute there, very droll, but very true....

[ensho]

3. not funny

nt

[-..__...]

4. It was only partially in jest.

When I read the subject line, my first thought was that drive-bys and drug related shootings were involved.

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. Actually, in an odd way, it is.

Lead paint does affect brain chemistry. It would not surprise me to see a linking between excessive lead in the environment and an increase in criminal activity, in explosive anger, in general lack of control. When the brain is short-circuited because of environmental lead, it can express itself in many ways. Including poor judgment and criminal activity.

[ensho]

6. kick

nt