LEAD SAFE CHICAGO : A P LAN TO ELIMINATE CHILDHOOD LEAD P OISONING IN CHICAGO BY 2010
Executive Summary
Lead poisoning is potentially devastating, but entirely preventable. Chicago, as a city, holds the distinction of having the highest number of children identified as lead poisoned in the nation. Over 12,000 children were identified with lead poisoning in 2002. In some communities in Chicago a third of the children tested are lead poisoned. These numbers likely are even higher since not all children are tested, even though all children six years of age and under are considered at high-risk for lead poisoning. Despite that lead paint was banned in housing more than 25 years ago, children, primarily in poor and minority communities, continue to be poisoned in their own homes because their homes have not been renovated or were poorly renovated, because each time an old window is opened, peeling lead paint turns to lead dust, and because people track lead paint from Chicagoís old rear porches throughout the house.
