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1994.10.21 :  HHS/HUD Lead Poisoning Prevention Grants

Contact: CDC Press Office   (404) 639-3286
         HUD Press Office   (202) 708-0685 
Friday, Oct. 21, 1994

                   CDC TEAMS WITH HUD TO AWARD LEAD POISONING
                              PREVENTION GRANTS


     The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today announced
awards of nearly $2.5 million for demonstration projects to prevent
lead exposure for children in high-risk areas of Chicago, Ill., and
Providence, R.I.

     The demonstration projects, jointly supported by CDC and the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, are designed to
bring a comprehensive, primary prevention approach to solving the
problem of lead poisoning.

     "We welcome the opportunity to work with the CDC in building a
better future for our nation's children right in their own
neighborhoods," stated HUD Secretary Henry G. Cisneros.  "Despite
major gains, lead poisoning is still a major environmental health
problem affecting young children."

     David Satcher, M.D., director of the CDC, said, "This is a
landmark initiative in our efforts to prevent childhood lead
poisoning.  While we recently celebrated a public health success
story in the reduction of blood lead levels, we are far from writing
the end of that story.  These primary prevention demonstration
projects will bring together representatives from public health, the
medical community, housing and rehabilitation, community-based 
organizations, business and labor interests, and others in an effort
to develop a model approach for preventing lead poisoning in
targeted neighborhoods."

     A recent national survey, published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association and the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality
Weekly Report, showed that blood lead levels for Americans have
dropped significantly since the late 1970s.  For children ages 1-5
years, blood lead levels decreased by 78 percent from 15.0 to 3.6
micrograms per deciliter (u.g/dL) between 1978 and 
1991.  

     This major public health victory was accomplished primarily
through the reduction of lead used in gasoline and the almost total
elimination of lead from solder used in food and soft drink cans
manufactured in this country.  However, the new data showed that
many African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, low income people and
urban residents are still at higher risk for lead exposure,
primarily due to lead paint in older housing.  For example, one
out of every five African-American children has a blood lead level
of 10 u.g/dL or higher, levels at which researchers have
demonstrated subtle effects on intelligence.

     The new program requires input from neighborhood-based
organizations and residents for solving the serious problem within
their own communities.  Neighborhood organizations and citizens will
play an important role in planning, implementing, evaluating and
providing services under this grant program.

     The two grant recipients are the Illinois Department of Public
Health and the Rhode Island Department of Health.  Illinois will
receive approximately $1.25 million to provide a program in a high-
risk neighborhood in Chicago known as West Town.  Rhode Island will
use about $1.25 million to conduct a neighborhood-based childhood
lead primary prevention program in an area of Providence known as
Elmwood.
                                 ###

NOTE:  For more information about the states' plan contact:

Jonah Depps
Program Administrator
Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
Illinois Department of Health
535 W. Jefferson
Springfield, Ill.  62761
(217) 782-0403

Bela T. Matyas, M.D., M.P.H.
Medical Director
Division of Disease Control
Rhode Island Department of Health
Cannon Building
Three Capitol Hill
Providence, R.I.  02908-5097
(401) 277-2432