Monroe County, N.Y. – Jilda Carey has lived in the same home for 39 years, a home she raised her youngest son in.Carey says her son would chew on parts of the wall when he was eight months old.
"He would take his teeth because he was teething and gnaw on it,” said Carey.
Carey has seen a lot change throughout the years, including city standards.
"We never thought of lead paint,” said Carey.
Now as a grandmother she does.
Lead poisoning is something researchers want more people to think about, considering the damaging effects.
"They [children] have trouble learning, if you learn something and then you change the rules, they have difficulty making that transition,” said U of R Professor of Environmental Medicine Dr. Deborah Cory-Slechta.
Dr. Cory-Slechta was a part of a committee that made the new recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control.
The committee wants to lower the definition of lead poisoning in children from ten micrograms of lead per deciliter to five micrograms.
“We couldn't define a safe level of lead; the C.D.C. should eliminate the phrase level of concern because we couldn't identify a cut off point,” said Dr. Cory-Slechta.
Slechta says it's critical to focus on prevention; something the city and county say they strive for.
"This helps us get into more homes than we would have with our level of lead at 10 micrograms per deciliter,” said Director of the Monroe County Health Department Dr. Andrew Doniger.
Inspectors could get into more homes because experts predict the number of undiagnosed cases could go up if the standard changes.
“It's been a very tough time for local government and there is no apparent easy way to get additional resources,” said Dr. Doniger.
The county gets several million dollars in funding each year for lead prevention, but a change in standards and more households affected could spread dollars thin, but it’s a need some researchers say will have to be met.
"It does give an indication of a sense of necessity of finishing up solving this problem after all,” said Dr. Cory-Slechta.
These are just recommendations from a panel.
The C.D.C. has taken recommendations before and if they accept these, it could take several months to take shape at the local level.
Advocates of the change say preventing lead poisoning is up to parents too.
Parents need to be aware, identify hazards in the home, and if you're renting, keep an open dialogue with your landlord.
