Study says 42,000 DC children may have been at risk from lead in tap water.
On its front page, the Washington Post , “A new study concludes that hundreds of young children in the District experienced potentially damaging amounts of lead in their blood when lead levels were dramatically rising in the city’s tap water.” The peer-reviewed study, which will appear in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, found that in some “high risk neighborhoods, the number of toddlers and infants with blood-lead concentrations that can cause irreversible IQ loss and developmental delays more than doubled after harmful levels of lead began leaching into the city’s drinking water in 2001.” The report said the estimated 42,000 children, now aged four to nine, “might be at risk of future health and behavioral problems linked to lead.” Comment: One would think that after more than 40 years of trying to reduce the impact of lead on children’s’ health we could avoid it. Failure to enact strict rental codes are part of the problem. Landlords should be required to ensure that the homes they rent are safe for children.
