GLLEN employs four key strategies to help virtually eliminate lead poisoning:
- Strong communication between partners
- Research on the true costs of lead poisoning and best practices to eliminate lead hazards
- Education and engagement of families, health professionals, and other stakeholders.
- Education of decision-makers
Through these avenues, GLLEN has identified priorities to help reach the objective of eliminating lead poisoning.
State-level priorities
- Universal lead testing for all kids aged 1 and 2
- Shifting the burden of proof to landlords, including
- Submitting documentation proving they have made a home lead-safe after a child has been poisoned in the unit;
- Fixing or disclosing lead risks prior to renting a unit; and
- Requiring inspection and disclosure of lead paint, soil, dust, and water before the sale or transfer of residential property built before 1978.
- Funding for lead abatement & lead poisoning prevention programs.
- Align with State or local Lead Commissions and boards.
- Establish or expand prenatal blood lead testing
- Expand existing soil testing programs
- Educate primary care physicians on lead poisoning
- Identify “hot spots” where children are likely to be exposed to lead
- Require lead risk assessments for childcare facilities
- Requiring contractors to have lead-safe certifications to do work on homes built before 1978
- Support efforts to train, recruit, and identify lead abatement professionals and contractors
Federal priorities
- Create a Presidential Commission on Childhood Lead Poisoning Elimination and appoint an Executive Director of the Commission
- Strengthen the support for and direction of the Federal Interagency Healthy Homes Work Group to focus on prevention strategies as a top priority
- Require federal agencies to identify and remediate hazards from lead-based paint and lead service lines in all federally-owned homes and homes with federally-supported or insured mortgages
- Increase the budget for lead hazard reduction funding to pay for remediation of lead hazards in paint, soil, and water
- Increase the budget
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