The
Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) recognizes National Lead
Poisoning Prevention Week (NLPPW) October 23-29. The week is dedicated to
actions that address health effects of lead exposure, and increase awareness of
childhood lead poisoning prevention. The World Health Organization Global
Alliance sponsors International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week each year to
stop the production and sale of lead paint and to raise awareness of childhood
lead poisoning around the globe. Other
participants include the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC),
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
“The Connecticut
Department of Public Health Lead & Healthy Homes Program is supportive of
the National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week initiative. Several of our state’s
local health departments are conducting activities such as educational displays
and local radio station interviews”, said Krista Veneziano of the DPH Childhood
Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. She added, “This year's NLPPW theme, Lead-Free
Kids for a Healthy Future, highlights the importance of testing your child,
developing an awareness of lead paint hazards in your home and learning how to
prevent lead poisoning’s serious health effects.”
Lead paint use was banned
in the United States in 1978. And while the prevalence and incidence rates of
lead poisoned children in Connecticut have been decreasing over the past
fifteen years due to mandatory childhood screening and primary prevention efforts,
our state’s housing stock is among the oldest in the country. This means that
many houses still contain lead paint hazards that have the potential to poison
children. It is important for residents to understand the steps they can take
to protect children from lead poisoning in homes built before 1978.
For more information
visit ct.gov/preventlead
or for Spanish educational materials please visit ct.gov/plomo.
Or contact the DPH Lead and Healthy Homes Program at (860) 509-7299.