City Council Proposed Lead Bills June 7, 2016 Press Conference

Im Colleen McCauley, and I am the Health Policy Director at Public

Citizens for Children and Youth, or PCCY. Were a child advocacy and
policy organization working on behalf of kids primarily in southeast PA.
For the last 15 years I have worked on eliminating childhood lead poisoning
in Philadelphia and across the state, and PCCY advocates on a national,
state and local level for funding to protect babies from the permanent
damage lead inflicts. I convened a diverse coalition that wrote
Philadelphias lead ordinance enacted in 2013 requiring landlords to prove
that their properties are lead-safe before a young child moves in. This
ordinance was ably shepherded by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds
Browns leadership.
I am here today because although weve made good progress, Philadelphia
has not yet eradicated lead poisoning. Philadelphia has a home lead
remediation problem. 90% of the citys residential properties were
built before 1978 when lead paint was finally banned for residential
use. Consequently, lead is definitely in paint. It may be in water. And
the first step in preventing babies from ever being poisoned is to test
for lead hazards. The ultimate solution is found in remediating those
hazards. And PCCY supports efforts to make homes lead-safe for
kids whether the lead hazards are from deteriorated lead paint or
water sources.
Babies under the age of two are most at risk for being poisoned. As babies
begin to crawl and toddle on the floor they come in contact with
deteriorated lead paint dust on the floor. Theyre also just about the height
of some windows in their home, and lead paint dust in window sills created
by the friction of opening and closing windows is a main poisoning source.
The lead paint dust gets on their fingers and their fingers go into their
mouth because thats the normal way babies explore the world. And
babies are small, so it takes a small amount of lead to poison them.
The vast majority of Philadelphia babies are poisoned by lead paint
hazards in their homes where most of them spend the majority of their time.

Many babies spend a good amount of time in child care too. And if that
child care is in someones home, then that property should be lead-safe.
One of todays proposed bills would protect babies in home-based child
care sites, and that makes sense. There are about 800 family and group,
home-based child care providers in the city. The majority of these
providers have small incomes. Testing their properties for lead hazards will
be relatively affordable, yet remediating hazards if they are found will be
pretty costly. The Philadelphia Health Department reports that it costs an
average of $8,500 to remediate the home of a poisoned child an amount
well beyond the reach of most low-income households. In order to comply
with this proposed ordinance, low-income, home-based child care providers
will need financial assistance. The Philadelphia Department of Health
coordinated a program called Healthy Homes for Child Care where lowincome, home-based providers voluntarily had their properties tested for
lead and other hazards and funds were available to remediate. Funding for
this successful program, unfortunately, ended several years ago, yet it
should be a model for policy going forward.
Another bill being proposed today calls for adding testing water to the
current lead ordinance. Philadelphias lead ordinance only calls for
landlords to test their pre-1978 rental properties for lead paint-based
hazards in units where children under 7 reside. Well, the city has run into
some serious challenges enforcing this law. Adding water testing to the law
is likely to have the same disappointing result. So in addition to adding
water testing, we recommend that the law should be simultaneously
strengthened to enhance the citys ability to enforce it.
PCCY applauds the City Council members gathered here today who are
championing thoughtful policies to protect our youngest citizens from
permanent damage caused by lead. The great news is that lead poisoning
is entirely preventable. We know how to keep kids safe and healthy. We
just need more tools to do so, and these proposals help build the right tool
box.

Group child care = kids and family child care = kidsin 2015, 3,534
kids with elevated blood lead levels (412 with confirmed at/above 10)