Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

Senator KENNEDY. I am pleased to welcome the witnesses who have agreed to testify before the committee this morning.

Today we were to hear testimony from Congressman Charles Rangel of New York, but Congressman Rangel has indicated that he will be unable to appear today but will appear later in the course of the hearings.

Today, we shall hear testimony from the Department of Housing and Urban Development about a study of selected paint samples and concentrations of lead in high-risk communities. Dr. Julian Chisholm will discuss the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics regarding lead levels in paint.

Dr. Chisholm is accompanied by Mrs. Louise Burton and Mrs. Emma Haskins, who are both parents of lead-based paint poisoning victims. Today's hearing will close with testimony from the Lead Industries Association and from the Honorable William Hart, mayor of East Orange, N.J.

On Thursday, we intend to hear testimony from physicians, parents of lead-poisoned victims, paint manufacturers, and community workers who have done a considerable amount of work in this field. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Environmental Protection Agency will be scheduled to present testimony on this bill on Friday of this week.

We always like to have them at the outset of our hearings, but they indicated they were unable to be here; so we have scheduled them for Friday.

I will ask that my complete statement be made a part of the record. (The prepared statement of Senator Kennedy follows:)

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD M. KENNEDY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS

I am pleased to open hearings by the Subcommittee on Health this morning, on the amendment to the Lead Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act. The bill before the committee, S. 3080, was introduced on January 26, 1972 and has received the support of 31 Senatorseight Republicans and 23 Democrats. The bill's principal purpose is to authorize the continuation of federally supported lead based paint poisoning programs that were initiated with the enactment of Public Law 91-695, in January 1971. Similar legislation for the continuation of these programs has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman William Ryan of New York. In addition, I understand that Congressman William Barrett, chairman of the Housing Subcommittee in the House of Representatives, is also developing legislation for continuing the Federal support of lead-based paint poisoning programs.

I am deeply concerned about the need to provide support in the battle against this tragic disease. Lead-based paint poisoning strikes thousands of American children each year primarily because our society has refused to take the steps needed to end the damage caused by this hazard. The bill before the committee authorizes $50 million for a Federal attack on this problem. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare is authorized $45 million for screening, testing, and education programs. And, the Department of Housing and

Urban Development is authorized $5 million for continuing to research and develop the most efficient and effective procedures for covering up exposed surfaces in residences that have been covered with lead based paint.

When I introduced the first lead poisoning bill in the Senate in December 1969, the sorrowful tally of statistics concerning the disease was as alarming then as it is now.

Though lead based paint poisoning accounts for only 5 percent of all accidental poisonings of preschool children, this disease accounts for up to 70 percent of all deaths due to poisoning among preschool children.

About 200 youngsters die from lead poisoning each year.

At least 400,000 children suffer with lead poisoning.

But only 12,000 to 16,000 children actually receive treatment. Physicians, teachers, housing experts, and volunteer workers all know what causes lead poisoning in children. Flaking paint chips from the walls of dilapidated houses, leaded paint on window sills, porch railings, toys, furniture, or any other surface coated with paints containing significant amounts of lead, present a hazard to young children. But lead poisoning is different from most health hazards that confront young children because we know the causes. We also know how to prevent it. Most cases of lead poisoning occur among children from deprived and neglected communities. Usually these are homes that were painted before World War II.

Modern, attractive building materials and lead-free paints can cover up and protect children against these surfaces. Thus, one purpose of the Lead Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act is to attack the existing dangers in the hazards of the Nation's 30 million housing units that have lead embedded in the paint and plaster of their interior walls.

A second and vitally critical aspect of the legislation is to seek protection against lead-based paint poisoning for future generations of American children.

The amendment to the Lead Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act that I introduced last January strictly limits the allowable amounts of lead contained in paints used on interior residential surfaces and on those exterior surfaces readily accessible to children. Under current law, such paints may not contain more than 1 percent lead by weight. The pending bill requires manufacturers of these paints to limit the lead content to no more than 0.06 percent lead by weight.

It is hoped that the new limit will begin to insure the removal of the hazards of lead paint poisoning from the list of maladies that threaten the Nation's 11 million pre-school-age children.

The third feature of my bill authorizes State health agencies to operate centralized laboratory facilities to analyze and detect lead in samples of paint and in samples of blood drawn from suspected victims.

Last year, the Bureau of Community and Environmental Management in the U.S. Public Health Service surveyed children in 17 cities across the country. They found incidences of high lead levels in 10 percent of those sampled. Of 80,000 children in New York City 20,000 children were found to have lead levels above the

critical level established by the Surgeon General of the United States. In those same 17 cities, 65 percent of the pre-World War II dwellings in the survey had potentially hazardous concentrations of lead on the walls, window sills, and woodwork. Because many of these are small cities like Nashua, N.H., Hoboken, N.J., and Charleston, S.C., it is often more convenient and efficient for a State agency to provide the testing and analysis services under a plan that coordinates all lead programs in the State. It is my understanding that the Public Health Service intends to extend this survey to 30 or more cities throughout the Nation. Increasing evidence that lead-based paint poisoning is not concentrated in the big-city dwellings of the East and North has stimulated considerable interest among the Nation's health authorities. We now know that a comprehensive plan to eliminate childhood lead poisoning must be designed to include large and small communities in both urban and rural areas.

There are many widely accepted reasons why deteriorating conditions in poorly maintained dwellings must be cleared up. Though leadbased paint poisoning is only one reason, it is a disease that clearly demands national attention because we have the ability to eliminate it. This is the time for a national commitment to bring an end to this needless killer.

Ten years following the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin recorded his long experience with the effects of lead poisoning. In a letter to a close friend in July 1786, he complained that

This mischievous effect from lead is at least above sixty years old; you will observe with concern how long a useful truth may be known and exist before it is generally received and practised on.

Though the "useful truth" about lead-based paint poisoning in children has been known for much of the time since Mr. Franklin wrote those words, we have not yet "generally received or practised on” that knowledge. It would indeed be gratifying if substantial successes against childhood lead poisoning will have been achieved before the 200th anniversary of the Nation's celebration of Independence.

I am pleased to welcome all the witnesses who have agreed to testify before the committee this morning. Today we shall hear testimony from Congressman Charles Rangel of New York; and from the Department of Housing and Urban Development about a study of selected paint samples and concentrations of lead in high-risk communities. Dr. Julian Chisolm will discuss the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics regarding lead levels in paint. Dr. Chisolm is accompanied by Mrs. Louise Burton and Mrs. Emma Haskins, who are both parents of lead-based paint poisoning victims.

Today's hearing will close with testimony from the Lead Industries Association and from Hon. William Hart, mayor of East Orange, N.J.

On Thursday, we intend to hear testimony from physicians, parents of lead-poisoned victims, paint manufacturers, and community workers who have done a considerable amount of work in this field.

The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Environmental Protetcion Agency will be scheduled to present testimony on this bill on Friday of this week.

Senator KENNEDY. Senator Schweiker.

STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD S. SCHWEIKER, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

Senator SCHWEIKER. Thank you very much.

I have long been concerned with the matter of lead-based paint poisoning, and I ask, Mr. Chairman, that the record include at this point my full statement.

Senator KENNEDY. It will be included in the record at this point. (The prepared statement of Senator Schweiker follows:)

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD S. SCHWEIKER, A
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

Today marks the beginning of hearings on S. 3080, a bill to continue and expand the Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act. I was pleased to join the distinguished chairman of this subcommittee in introducing this legislation on January 26 of this year, and I am glad that hearings to discuss this important matter have been convened so promptly.

Lead paint poisoning is a totally preventable disease which has been recognized as a serious health hazard only within recent years. In many parts of our country, particularly in deteriorating areas of our cities, the disease is nearly epidemic in proportion. Tragically, the victims of this preventable disease are almost invariably children. Nearly 400,000 children are affected by lead paint poisoning each year and another 200 less fortunate children are killed by this disease annually. Those children who do survive the disease often never fully recover. Repeated ingestion of lead-painted substances can lead to mental retardation, cerebral palsy, optic atrophy, and impairment of intellectual ability. The most common victims of this disease are children between the ages of 1 and 6. Many of the small children who are affected by the lead paint can be helped if their condition is promptly diagnosed and treated. Of course, the treatment accomplishes little if the children are again confronted by lead paint when they return to their homes after having received medical attention. I have long been concerned with the need to provide a solution and an end to the very serious problem of lead paint poisoning. In the 91st Congress, I introduced legislation to provide civil penalties for the use of lead-based paint in certain dwellings. I was gratified when the prohibition of the use of lead-based paint was adopted as an amendment to the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970.

The signing into law of the Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act on January 13, 1971, a bill which I strongly supported in the Labor and Public Welfare Committee and on the Senate floor, enabled the Federal Government to assist communities in diagnosing, treating, and preventing lead paint poisoning. While Congress had authorized $30 million for this 2-year program, until this past summer only minimal funds had been directed for its implementation. Only a few people were assigned to work on the problem in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. I strongly urged the Congress to appropriate at least $15 million to fund this program, a small amount when compared to the cost of caring for 400,000 children who suffer

76-737 0-72

from lead-based poisoning each year, not to mention the varying degrees of incapacitation they must bear for the rest of their lives.

The appropriation of $7.5 million for the program last summer has made a significant beginning. However, there is much more that must be done, and we must drastically step up our efforts to combat this tragic disease.

Current lead-based paint legislation expires June 30, 1972, and the bill which we are considering today would give the program continuing status. It would provide a major vehicle for ending for all time this tragic disease by providing additional resources to aid communities in the detection and treatment of lead-based paint poisoning as well as assisting them in identifying problem areas where leadbased paint poisoning presents a high risk. The bill will establish Federal research and demonstration projects to assist communities in eliminating the hazards of lead-based paint poisoning from the interiors of houses.

The bill also deals with the definition of the maximum safe lead content in paints for interior use. It is the intent of the bill to define the percent content of lead which may be considered safe for household paints, and I am sure that the remarks of the paint manufacturers, most of whom have already voluntarily reduced the lead content in their paints, will be helpful in considering the possibilities of reducing the level of lead in interior paints to minimal amounts.

With this bill which we are considering today we will provide the opportunity to at least end the tragedy created by the totally preventable disease of lead-based paint poisoning. I welcome the witnesses who will participate in these hearings and am confident that they will be of much assistance in accomplishing this goal.

Senator SCHWEIKER. Mr. Chairman, I should like to have placed in the record the statement of Senator Javits, who had another meeting this morning and is unable to be present.

Senator KENNEDY. It will be so placed in the record. (The prepared statement of Senator Javits follows:)

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. JACOB J. JAVITS, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

I congratulate the chairman for initiating these hearings on S. 3080, a bill which I cosponsored to strengthen and improve the Lead Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act. I have long been concerned about the need for strong Federal action against this disease, leadbased paint poisoning which silently, almost unnoticed, causes the death of many children and leaves many more with mental retardation, irreversible brain damage, cerebral palsy, blindness, kidney disease, and other debilitating handicaps. Most tragic, it is a manmade disease, and as such, a disease that is highly preventable. There is no rational reason for its existence, and no justification to allow leadbased paint poisoning to continue.

In New York City, lead exposure is one of the major pediatric problems. There are today, approximatelv, 120.000 children living in 450,000 apartment units in New York City. These are in such a state of disrepair that each such child is a potential victim of lead paint poisoning. It is estimated that currently 6,000 to 8,000 of these children have significant levels of lead in their blood.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »