[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 20663]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            INTRODUCTION OF THE LEAD POISONING REDUCTION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 27, 2006

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce today the Lead 
Poisoning Reduction Act, a bill that will tackle one of the most 
dangerous environmental hazards to our children's health--lead 
poisoning. America has made an important pledge to eliminate this 
problem by 2010, and it is critical that Congress give our communities 
the tools needed to eradicate lead dangers.
  Despite the fact that lead poisoning is preventable, it continues to 
affect 434,000 American children every year, resulting in serious 
health problems ranging from brain damage and hearing loss to coma and 
death. We cannot stand by and watch our children continue to be exposed 
to toxins when we have the knowledge and tools to keep them healthy. In 
doing so, we rob them, and our communities, of their greatest 
potential.
  Unfortunately, children are often most vulnerable to lead hazards in 
the places they ought to be the most safe--in their homes and in their 
childcare facilities. In 2003, the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control found 
that 14 percent of licensed childcare facilities had significant lead 
hazards. At facilities where the majority of children attending were 
African American, 30 percent were determined to pose serious risks of 
lead poisoning.
  Our childcare professionals work tirelessly to care for our children 
and keep them safe. But they desperately need the appropriate resources 
to protect children from the hidden dangers of lead hazards. Like its 
companion bill, introduced in the other Chamber by Senator Obama, the 
Lead Poisoning Reduction Act will establish the Select Group on Lead 
Exposures which will be comprised of experts from the Secretary of 
Education, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National 
Institute of Environmental Health Science, the Administration for 
Children and Families, and the National Institute of Child Health and 
Human Development.
  The Select Group will be charged with conducting a study of current 
State and local programs intended to prevent lead poisoning at 
childcare facilities. Within 1 year of enactment, the Select Group will 
establish lead safety standards and abatement procedures for such 
facilities. The bill provides for lead testing of child care centers, 
and directs the Select Group to establish and administer a grant 
program to defray abatement costs to help facilities comply with the 
new lead-safety standards. Finally, the Lead Poisoning Reduction Act 
will require that contractors hired for repair, renovation, or 
reconstruction of childcare facilities are provided with educational 
materials about lead hazards and the guidance necessary to avoid 
imposing additional risks of lead exposure. These initiatives will play 
an integral role in preventing future incidences of lead poisoning.
  America's children deserve to be safe at their childcare facilities. 
I, therefore, urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the Lead 
Poisoning Reduction Act.

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