Paint Poisoning - a post by best start mothers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday April 11 12:00 p.m.(12h:00)
Paint Poisoned Homes: Canada is turning a blind eye to as many as 1 in 20children who may be lead poisoned from housing sources The First Six Years, in partnership with the Renfrew County Child PovertyAction Network and ACORN Canada will today release a policy paper thathighlights the deficiencies of the federal and provincial governments intheir response to the problem of childhood lead poisoning due to housingsources. The federal government has been doing nothing to protect children living inhomes with lead hazards even though Canadian and American researchers haveknown, since at least since the early 1990's that lead paint was appliedroutinely to many homes before 1960. Lead paint deteriorates over time,turning into lead dust making it particularly harmful for young children.
For over a decade, US research has shown that housing is the number onesource of childhood lead poisoning in that country and government agenciesin that country have been taking aggressive steps to eliminate this problem. A similar problem with lead paint exists in Canadian homes but there hasbeen little study of this issue. In fact, an Ontario Public HealthAssociation review could find only 2 studies in a 16 year span that examinedchildhood lead poisoning in relation to housing sources and both of thesestudies reported finding an astonishing 11% of child participants werepoisoned. Sources of exposure were traced back to housing. Lead is a poison that harms brain development, especially in children underthe age of six years when children's brains and nervous system areundergoing rapid development. Damage from early lead exposure has beenlinked to behaviour problems such as increased aggression, learningproblems, language difficulties, poorer math and reading scores, increasedhighschool incompletion rates, and Attention Deficit Disorder. Previousestimates have stated that as many as 1 in 20 children (5%) are affected.[1] In the United States 75% of pre-1980 residential housing contains someleaded paint; however U.S. homes built before 1950 contain the greatest leadconcentrations [2] Lead was banned from U.S. paint in 1977. Kelly O'Grady, founder of the First Six Years, a non-profit organizationformed to raise awareness of this issue, and lead author of the policy papersays, "We really don't know the extent of this problem in Canada becausethere has been no large scale survey of homes to determine which onescontain lead and which ones don't. We do know however, that 3.5 millionCanadian homes were built prior to 1960 and - and we also know that onequarter of Canadian children under the age of 4 live in older homes. Putthese two factors together and we potentially have a large problem on ourhands." While there is little evidence to define the extent of the problem, evidenceof a problem does exist: In 2001 a Health Canada survey of 50 Ottawa homesfound levels of lead in dust in some homes that exceeded levels ofcontamination commonly found in smelter communities. [3] And in 2004 theCanadian Medical Association Journal reported a case of lead poisoning in a4 year old boy, resulting from the ingestion of "lead-free" paint[4]. Leadin Canadian paints was legal until 2005. Conceivably, Canada could have alarger problem with lead in housing than the U.S. does. Greg Lubimiv, co-chair of the Renfrew County Child Poverty Action Networknotes, "Renfrew County has a lot of older housing stock. Even in this ruralarea we see some pretty deplorable living conditions for families. Howmany of the kids that we see being treated for learning disabilities orbehaviour problems are really lead poisoned kids? We don't know because noone is checking. We should be putting our money towards making homeshealthier for families, by removing the sources of lead. Lead poisoningfrom housing sources is 100% preventable." Marva Burnett, Board Member of ACORN Canada says Canadian governments shouldmove swiftly to test blood lead levels of children throughout Canada toidentify regional hot spots and fund programs to remediate lead hazards inolder low-income housing.
View the report at: www.canada.acorn.org
Paint Poisoned Homes: Canada is turning a blind eye to as many as 1 in 20children who may be lead poisoned from housing sources The First Six Years, in partnership with the Renfrew County Child PovertyAction Network and ACORN Canada will today release a policy paper thathighlights the deficiencies of the federal and provincial governments intheir response to the problem of childhood lead poisoning due to housingsources. The federal government has been doing nothing to protect children living inhomes with lead hazards even though Canadian and American researchers haveknown, since at least since the early 1990's that lead paint was appliedroutinely to many homes before 1960. Lead paint deteriorates over time,turning into lead dust making it particularly harmful for young children.
For over a decade, US research has shown that housing is the number onesource of childhood lead poisoning in that country and government agenciesin that country have been taking aggressive steps to eliminate this problem. A similar problem with lead paint exists in Canadian homes but there hasbeen little study of this issue. In fact, an Ontario Public HealthAssociation review could find only 2 studies in a 16 year span that examinedchildhood lead poisoning in relation to housing sources and both of thesestudies reported finding an astonishing 11% of child participants werepoisoned. Sources of exposure were traced back to housing. Lead is a poison that harms brain development, especially in children underthe age of six years when children's brains and nervous system areundergoing rapid development. Damage from early lead exposure has beenlinked to behaviour problems such as increased aggression, learningproblems, language difficulties, poorer math and reading scores, increasedhighschool incompletion rates, and Attention Deficit Disorder. Previousestimates have stated that as many as 1 in 20 children (5%) are affected.[1] In the United States 75% of pre-1980 residential housing contains someleaded paint; however U.S. homes built before 1950 contain the greatest leadconcentrations [2] Lead was banned from U.S. paint in 1977. Kelly O'Grady, founder of the First Six Years, a non-profit organizationformed to raise awareness of this issue, and lead author of the policy papersays, "We really don't know the extent of this problem in Canada becausethere has been no large scale survey of homes to determine which onescontain lead and which ones don't. We do know however, that 3.5 millionCanadian homes were built prior to 1960 and - and we also know that onequarter of Canadian children under the age of 4 live in older homes. Putthese two factors together and we potentially have a large problem on ourhands." While there is little evidence to define the extent of the problem, evidenceof a problem does exist: In 2001 a Health Canada survey of 50 Ottawa homesfound levels of lead in dust in some homes that exceeded levels ofcontamination commonly found in smelter communities. [3] And in 2004 theCanadian Medical Association Journal reported a case of lead poisoning in a4 year old boy, resulting from the ingestion of "lead-free" paint[4]. Leadin Canadian paints was legal until 2005. Conceivably, Canada could have alarger problem with lead in housing than the U.S. does. Greg Lubimiv, co-chair of the Renfrew County Child Poverty Action Networknotes, "Renfrew County has a lot of older housing stock. Even in this ruralarea we see some pretty deplorable living conditions for families. Howmany of the kids that we see being treated for learning disabilities orbehaviour problems are really lead poisoned kids? We don't know because noone is checking. We should be putting our money towards making homeshealthier for families, by removing the sources of lead. Lead poisoningfrom housing sources is 100% preventable." Marva Burnett, Board Member of ACORN Canada says Canadian governments shouldmove swiftly to test blood lead levels of children throughout Canada toidentify regional hot spots and fund programs to remediate lead hazards inolder low-income housing.
View the report at: www.canada.acorn.org