CUOMO ANNOUNCES $756,136 RESEARCH GRANT TO CINCINNATI TO REDUCE LEAD-BASED PAINT HAZARDS

WASHINGTON - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today announced a $756,136 research grant to the City of Cincinnati to protect families in low-income housing from the health hazards of soil and dust contaminated by lead-based paint.

"This is an important grant because it will help Cincinnati protect the health of our children," Cuomo said. "No child should fall victim to lead contamination."

Children under age 6 will benefit most from the research, because their developing nervous systems are vulnerable to lead exposure. Lead can cause reduced intelligence and attention span, hearing loss, stunted growth, reading and learning problems, and behavior difficulties. Children's play activities often expose them to lead-contaminated dust, soil and paint chips.

Cincinnati, working in partnership with the University of Cincinnati, will conduct research on ways to reduce lead levels in dust on inner city sidewalks. The City will examine ways to improve the cleaning of streets and sidewalks to reduce lead hazards.

Lead can get into the soil and dust from chipping and peeling lead-based paint. Lead-based paint was banned from use in homes in 1978 as a health hazard, but many older houses and apartments still contain such paint.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that nearly 1 million children ages 1 to 5 have elevated blood lead levels - amounting to 4.4 percent of all children in that age group. The majority of cases involve low-income children.

The Clinton Administration launched The Campaign for a Lead-Safe America - and its slogan, "Take the Lead Against Lead" - in 1997 with an initial $50 million in HUD grants.

Cuomo announced a new life-saving initiative last year that is using TV commercials, newspaper ads, millions of brochures and a toll-free information line to help parents protect their children from potentially deadly hidden dangers in their homes. The dangers associated with lead-paint contamination are featured in this Healthy Homes initiative.

In addition, HUD and the Environmental Protection Agency continue to jointly fund a toll-free phone line (1-800-424-LEAD) to give callers information in English and Spanish about lead hazards and about disclosure requirements for people selling and renting homes. Information is also available on HUD's Internet site at www.hud.gov

Content Archived: January 20, 2009