Lead in NJ's children: Fixing it is a billion-dollar problem

Published February 15, 2018
By Russ Zimmer

New Jersey should spend $1.1 billion over the next 10 years to fix lead hazards that have poisoned thousands of children in the state, stunting their growth and limiting their potential, according to a coalition of health and housing advocates.

The groups released a report at the Statehouse on Wednesday that outlined a strategy for confronting the lead problem and they say that lawmakers are finally listening.

"There's more will than there's ever been," said Staci Berger, president and CEO of the Housing & Community Development Network of New Jersey. "It's the first time in my experience, and I've been doing this for two decades, that the governor has addressed lead poisoning in his or her Inaugural Address"

Lead exposure can affect nearly every system in a child's body, inhibiting the development of both physical and mental abilities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The effects of lead are irreversible.

Watch the video above to learn more about the threats from lead.

No safe level of lead in a child's blood has been identified, but county health departments generally take action when testing shows 5 or more micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. About 4,800 children in New Jersey surpass that threshold, according to the latest figures.

During the next 10 years, the 2018 New Jersey Lead Poisoning Prevention Action Plan recommends that lawmakers:

Require all rental housing to be certified as free from lead dangers and conduct regular inspections to ensure compliance.
Directly tie funds to the Lead Hazard Control Assistance Fund, which has been looted by politicians from both parties.
Require utilities to present plans to remove all lead service lines from their water distribution systems.
Encourage investment in infrastructure and housing repairs.
Increase early childhood screening for lead poisoning.

"This is an everyone issue," said Ruth Ann Norton, who leads the Green Healthy Homes Initiative, a Maryland-based lead control advocacy organization. "We all pay for a child that doesn't succeed in school. We all pay for the long-term detriments that come from lead. No one walks away risk-free."

Communities around the nation have been compelled to reevaluate their lead risks in light of the Flint water crisis. After the Michigan city switched water supplies in 2014, testing revealed dangerously high levels of lead in water coming out of taps in Flint homes and schools.

Congress outlawed the use of lead-based paint in most homes and buildings in 1978. Lead soldering in household plumbing was forbidden in 1986.

Because the housing stock in New Jersey is so old – the typical home in the state was built in 1966 – these residential lead hazards persist in the form of dust, paint chips or contaminants in tap water.

Gov. Phil Murphy seized on lead contamination as one of the tenets of his successful 2017 gubernatorial run, pledging to make "every community safe from gun violence and lead poisoning" in campaign materials.

In a statement, the Governor's Office told the Asbury Park Press that Murphy was "currently exploring possible steps that New Jersey can take and is discussing abatement strategies and remediation options with appropriate department leaders."

The state government's commitment to protecting children from the dangers of lead has been intermittent. Support is fervent when rolling-out robust initiatives but that enthusiasm cools when it's time to find the money.

The Asbury Park Press in 2015 reported on the regular raiding of millions of dollars from the Lead Hazard Control Assistance Fund to pay for routine state bills and salaries.

That program offers up to $20,000 in grants and loans for homeowners and landlords to remove lead-based paint from their walls. However, about $50 million was diverted from the fund, which was supported by a tax on paint sales, since its inception in 2004.

Democrats and Republicans, governors and legislators – all were complicit. In April 2016, then-Gov. Chris Christie reversed course and agreed to restore $10 million to the fund.