2013 Statewide Update Childhood Lead Poisoning
Over the last 15 years, the story of childhood lead poisoning is an overwhelmingly positive one. After Federal lead poisoning prevention programs were established, the statewide percent of children with blood lead levels over 10 micrograms/dL dropped from nearly 10% to 0.44%. However, it is a continuing fight in Detroit because of the very old housing stock, the legacy of industrial sources of lead, the high child poverty rate, and the current large-scale demolition efforts now dispersing lead dust at unprecedented levels.
Each year, the Michigan Department of Community Health releases a state report on childhood lead testing and elevated blood lead levels. Here are some key figures:
- According to Federal and State requirements, all children insured by Medicaid should be tested at 1 and 2 years of age. In Wayne County, only 56.5% of those children were tested.
- 8% of Detroit children tested for lead had elevated levels above 5 ug/dl. That’s 1,996 children, which is more than one third of all lead-poisoned children in all of Michigan, and more than double the state rate of child lead poisoning.
- Twenty of the top thirty zip codes by number of children with elevated blood lead levels are in Detroit (including 2 shared with Hamtramck and Highland Park).
- 93.3% was built before 1978 (when lead paint was banned). 62.2% of Detroit housing was built before 1950, when at least 70% of homes were painted with lead paint.
