Feds must do more to test lead levels in kids' blood, Brown says

AUSTINTOWN

The federal government must do more to help fund testing of blood lead levels in children, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, told reporters after a closed-door meeting with local public-health and lead-remediation officials.

The presence of elevated lead levels “in a child’s blood stunts that child’s intellectual and physical growth, and that’s just something we can’t do to this next generation,” the senator said after the 45-minute briefing ended at the Mahoning County Health Department on Westchester Drive.

“Too many kids have had that problem for too many years,” he added.

Lead-paint remediation needs to be performed in homes of children with high blood lead levels, and officials must “hope we do those early enough to make sure those children are protected,” he said.

The meeting came amid the ongoing lead emergency in the Sebring water supply system.

The meeting followed a report by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency that 758 of 795 water samples taken from homes in the Sebring water-supply system since Jan. 21 are below the federal limit of 15 parts per billion of lead.

The U.S. and Ohio EPAs are working with Sebring officials to fine-tune the local water chemistry to reduce leaching of lead from homeowners’ piping into their water.

Read more about the situation and the meeting in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.