GOVERNOR SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO BETTER PROTECT CHILDREN FROM LEAD HAZARDS

TRENTON – Stressing the need to protect the health of New Jersey’s children and building on a report by the Public Advocate, Governor Jon S. Corzine today signed an Executive Order to significantly strengthen efforts to eliminate lead exposure hazards.

“The Public Advocate’s report is quite compelling,” said Governor Corzine. “Lead poisoning is a public health crisis that has irreversible effects on children and even adults, and we need to do all we can to address this crisis head-on. The Executive Order I am signing will establish a comprehensive program, drawing on coordinated resources from multiple agencies at the State and local level to expand our efforts to prevent lead poisoning, treat lead-poisoned children, assist affected families, and more effectively remediate lead-burdened housing.”

Lead exposure can cause brain damage, developmental delays, reduced IQ, reading and learning disabilities, behavioral problems, hearing impairments, and hyperactivity. Lead exposure can also impair the development and functioning of vital organs and can result in convulsions, coma, and even death.

A field investigation conducted by the Public Advocate’s staff found lead dust levels exceeding the federal standard in 85 of 104, or 82 percent of, homes tested in five of the New Jersey cities with the highest concentration of lead-poisoned children: Trenton, Camden, Newark, East Orange and Irvington. Together, these five cities accounted for 31 percent of all reported lead poisonings in New Jersey in FY 2005.

In addition, most of the addresses tested had already been subject to lead inspections and/or abatements and had been cleared for occupancy. Investigators also found shoddy abatement and clean-up work and interviewed families of children whose blood lead levels were higher after the lead problem in their home had supposedly been cleaned up.

In FY 2005, more than 4,000 New Jersey children were diagnosed with levels of lead in their blood at or above the federal level of concern based on the federal standard of 10 micrograms per deciliter, mostly from ingesting lead-based paint chips or lead dust from deteriorating paint in their homes.

“We can prevent our children from being sickened, suffering brain damage and even dying due to an environmental contamination in their homes,” said Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen. “I commend all of the parties involved, and especially Governor Corzine, for recognizing the seriousness of this problem and for taking these important first steps to solving it – forever.”

The specific problems identified in the Public Advocate’s investigation include:

• In FY 2005, of all the children under six years of age screened for lead in New Jersey, 2.4 percent, or 4,048 children, were found to have a level at or above 10 micrograms per deciliter of whole blood, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) level of concern. While this number improves every year, it is still unacceptably high.
  
  
• New Jersey’s housing stock is old, with more than half built before the sale of lead paint was banned in 1978. While the lead poisoning problem is statewide it is particularly bad in older urban areas.
  
  
• According to the CDC, New Jersey’s rate of poisoning is not only above the national average, but also above other northeastern states, such as New York and Massachusetts, that have similarly old housing stocks.
  
  
• It has taken months and even years for a home to be cleaned up, or abated, after a child is first known to be lead poisoned.
  
  
• A review of all records from the five selected cities over the past ten years revealed that local health inspectors ordered abatements in only about 60 percent of the cases where a child had been poisoned and, of those, about 20 percent never happened.
  
  
• Abatement contractors have at times in the past been able to get away with shoddy, inferior work because the standards governing their performance are insufficiently precise.
  
  
• Children are being re-poisoned in homes that should have been lead-safe.
  
  
• Childhood lead poisoning significantly burdens State resources because it increases health care and educational costs and requires the State to provide long-term services to individuals who suffer from disabilities or behavioral problems due to exposure.
  
  
• Families are often left without information, financial assistance, and housing alternatives. Although funding is available to relocate families to lead-safe housing, fewer than 100 families have been able to use this funding in the last three years.

“Families, especially in urban areas, have enough to worry about on a daily basis, without wondering if their homes are killing them,” said Senator Ronald L. Rice, D-Essex, and Chairman of the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee. “Lead poisoning is a silent epidemic in New Jersey’s urban areas. Over the years, I have sponsored legislation to address lead poisoning issues. More needs to be done, and I am eager to work with all the State departments on this issue. I believe that we have an obligation to protect our citizens from lead poisoning and assist those who have been exposed to it.”

The full text of the executive order is below:

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 100

WHEREAS, protecting the health of our children is one of the most important tasks of New Jersey State government; and

WHEREAS, lead poisoning is preventable and has irreversible effects on children and adults; and

WHEREAS, environmental lead can cause developmental disabilities, neurological and behavioral problems, decreased I.Q., and, in extreme cases, coma and death to children; and

WHEREAS, approximately two million houses in New Jersey were constructed prior to the prohibition of the sale of lead paint, and many children are therefore potentially exposed to dangerous levels of environmental lead; and

WHEREAS, dangerous levels of lead can be found not only in paint, but also in soil, water, and consumer products, and there is a need to educate parents and caregivers about that risk; and

WHEREAS, the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate (“Public Advocate”) has undertaken a study assessing the programs in New Jersey State and local government designed to protect children from residential lead exposure, which study has recommended important improvements in these protective programs; and

WHEREAS, the Public Advocate’s report describes that among 104 dwellings in five cities in New Jersey, a high proportion contain possibly harmful levels of lead contamination, that lead was present even in dwellings in which some lead abatement activities had ostensibly been undertaken, and that the dangers of lead poisoning are most likely to affect families in the State’s older urban areas; and

WHEREAS, I find the report of the Public Advocate to be thoughtful and compelling;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JON S. CORZINE, Governor of the State of New Jersey, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and by the Statutes of this State, do hereby ORDER and DIRECT:

1. The Department of Health and Senior Services (“DHSS”) shall, within 60 days, review its current lead standards, codified at N.J.A.C. 8:51, for the level of concern at which a child is considered poisoned in New Jersey and determine whether the State should lower its current standard.
   
   
2. DHSS, which, as a result of the Public Advocate’s Report, already has instructed the local health departments to re-inspect the 85 properties identified in that report as at risk for lead exposure, shall report on the results of the re-inspection within 90 days.
   
   
3. DHSS shall expand the use of its case management information database to all local health departments beginning with those local health departments in communities with the greatest magnitude of risk, and DHSS shall offer to all local health departments training in the use of the case management information database.
   
   
4. DHSS shall, within 60 days, convene stakeholders to undertake a review of the desirability and feasibility of recommending prenatal blood lead screening of all pregnant women and all post-natal children.
   
   
5. DHSS shall develop new, additional educational materials and make them available to local health departments, nonprofits, consortia, lead coalitions, primary care providers, and other lead education organizations.
   
   
6. DHSS shall develop a targeted blood lead screening plan for children based on geographic information system mapping results. DHSS shall require all local health department Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention (“CLPP”) program grantees to develop a neighborhood-level targeted blood lead screening strategy. DHSS shall provide mapping information on blood lead level rates to all counties so blood lead level screening objectives can be included in their community health improvement plans.
   
   
7. DHSS shall, within 60 days, create a one-page handout on the dangers of blood lead.
   
   
8. DHSS shall, within 90 days, review local health departments’ current practices regarding the inspection of all units of a multi-unit dwelling where a child has been poisoned by lead in one such dwelling unit. DHSS shall propose rules, if appropriate, that will require local heath departments to notify in writing all tenants in a multi-unit dwelling where a child has been poisoned by lead in one such dwelling unit. This writing would, if appropriate, notify tenants that dangerous levels of lead have been found in the building and provide: information on the dangers of lead poisoning; information that advises parents of children age six or under to have a child blood lead tested and where a child can be tested; and a one-page informational fact sheet developed by DHSS.
   
   
9. DHSS shall identify which local health departments are willing to perform lead inspections at the request of any resident in, or owner of, pre-1978 housing if such person is willing to pay the cost of the inspection and shall make this information available to the public. The Department of Community Affairs (“DCA”) shall regularly review and identify other private firms or individual inspectors that will be able to perform lead inspections at the request of any resident at the resident’s own expense and make this information available to the public.
   
   
10. DHSS shall review the current procedures for the inspection of lead poisoned children’s homes and the abatement of the property and shall propose rules, as appropriate, to mandate time frames by which local health departments, abatement companies, and property owners must ensure that the inspection, abatement, and clearance functions for which they are respectively responsible are completed.
    
    
11. DHSS shall direct that all CLPP programs shall upload weekly to the New Jersey Immunization Information System the blood lead test results of all children screened.
    
    
12. DHSS shall develop new, additional educational materials to increase awareness of sources of lead poisoning in consumer products including food, jewelry, and toys, and shall develop a visual aide that can be used by home visitors and others to identify non-paint sources of lead that can be found in consumer products.
    
    
13. The Department of Education (“DOE”) shall make available to school districts, charter schools, and nonpublic schools lead education materials made available by DHSS and/or the Public Advocate for distribution to teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, nurses, and parents of pupils attending that school.
    
    
14. To improve the timeliness, accuracy, and efficiency of the lead data match system, the Department of Human Services (“DHS”) and DHSS shall work together to enhance data collection and, if appropriate, utilize the DHSS case management information database to include a medical insurance collection field.
    
    
15. DCA has published a proposed rule that would prohibit anyone affiliated with or paid by an abatement company from performing the clearance inspection function on the same project. After the close of the comment period, the DCA shall consider all comments received, and, if appropriate, expeditiously promulgate a final rule.
    
    
16. DCA shall, within 90 days, review its monitoring of all certified evaluation and abatement contractors and, if appropriate and feasible, propose amendments to the work practice regulations.
    
    
17. DCA shall review its standards for treatment of lead-based paint hazards and, if appropriate and feasible, propose rules that would allow for additional DCA-funded treatment options.
    
    
18. DCA shall review its list of Certified Lead Abatement Contractors and update this list at least twice each year to ensure that the list identifies those contractors still performing residential abatements.
    
    
19. DCA shall take steps to offer greater technical support to complete the application for the Lead Hazard Control Assistance Programs. DCA and the Public Advocate shall collaborate to examine the feasibility of simplifying the application.
    
    
20. DHSS and DCA shall collaborate to develop a Memorandum of Understanding that will allow the agencies to cross-match the addresses of lead poisoned children with the results of cyclical inspections of multiple dwelling units.
    
    
21. The Department of Children and Families (“DCF”) shall undertake a review of the current training for resource family and child care youth residential inspection staff regarding recognition of lead paint hazards in connection with their inspection of homes and residential facilities for licensing purposes. Following such review, DCF shall, if appropriate, implement in-service training or informational sessions to assist all DCF inspection staff in recognizing and identifying lead paint hazards during the licensing and inspection process.
    
    
22. DCF shall review, consider, and, if appropriate, implement additional in-service training for resource family parents on the topics of recognition of lead paint hazards, requirements regarding lead paint testing, and information regarding treatment of lead paint exposure.
    
    
23. This Order shall take effect immediately.

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Photos from Governor Corzine's public events are available in the Governor's Newsroom section on the State of New Jersey web page.