Press release in Spanish

                                                                                  


Township of Bloomfield signs “Model Lead-Safe City” agreement with Public Advocate and rolls out multilingual video PSA’s

  

BLOOMFIELD –The Township of Bloomfield has signed an agreement with the New Jersey Public Advocate to aggressively respond to and prevent the problem of childhood lead poisoning.

“Today we focus our efforts on keeping the children of this township safe from the hazards of lead poisoning, which is a very serious, yet preventable health concern,” said Bloomfield Mayor Raymond McCarthy. “This agreement with the State Public Advocate’s Office and local community groups is another fine example of a great partnership to move forward with a commitment to local and statewide goals to decrease the prevalence of childhood lead poisoning and make the Township of Bloomfield a ‘model lead-safe city.’”

Flanked by state and local officials, education leaders, community-based organizations and citizens who have committed their time and skills to partner with the city to address this health issue, New Jersey Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen and Township Mayor McCarthy signed an agreement designating Bloomfield as a “Model Lead-Safe City,” thereby becoming the 13^th municipality with the designation.

Additionally, correspondence from Governor Jon S. Corzine was presented to Mayor McCarthy commending Bloomfield for becoming a Model Lead-Safe City and urging “all my fellow citizens to become involved in efforts that prevent our children from being exposed to and poisoned by lead.”

 “At the Department of the Public Advocate, we are honored to be a part of what I believe will be a very successful collaborative process here in the Township of Bloomfield,” said Chen, who unveiled a report in April 2008 showing that thousands of children in New Jersey are poisoned in their homes every year due to exposure to deteriorating lead-based paint.

According to the Public Advocate’s report, the childhood lead poisoning problem was determined to be particularly acute in the state’s cities and in municipalities with older housing stock. In response to the report, Governor Jon S. Corzine has signed an executive order requiring state departments to tighten their lead poisoning prevention activities.

Under the Model Lead-Safe City agreement signed today, town officials committed to take steps to: improve educational outreach on the issue and work with schools to educate parents and caregivers; expand the number of children screened for lead poisoning; improve the inspections of properties that may be lead-burdened; tighten oversight of lead abatement contractors; and provide improved relocation assistance and more lead-safe housing to affected families.

Approximately 3,359 children under the age of six reside in the Township of Bloomfield. In addition, about 95% of Bloomfield’s housing was built before 1978, when the national ban on the sale of lead paint went into effect.  Approximately 60% of the housing in Bloomfield was built before 1950 when the level of lead in paint was at its highest. 

In order to ensure that lead safety information is reaching people with Limited English Proficiency,  Public Advocate Chen also announced the roll-out of a video Public Service Announcement in Mandarin and Spanish that will be posted on various media sources in Bloomfield, including the school district website, the municipal website and on WBMA-TV, Bloomfield’s public access station.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau statistics, 14.5% of Bloomfield’s population is Hispanic.

To watch our Lead PSA’s follow the below links – PRESS CONTROL AND CLICK ON THE LINK

·         English Version- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw8k-Gu5Rd0

·         Spanish Version- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNwSDVwlTL4

·         Chinese Version- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4yxjD0YCJ0

“I am pleased that Bloomfield has put in place a multi-pronged approach to dealing with this issue that covers not just the township’s response to lead poisoning but also the need to prevent a home from ever becoming contaminated in the first place,” said Chen. “By working together, and getting the word out to all people in Bloomfield, we will collectively and aggressively fight lead contamination and the poisoning of our children.”

Specifically, by signing the Model City agreement today, the township will:

·         Designate the Health Officer, Mike Fitzpatrick, as the Bloomfield Lead-Safe City Coordinator who will be the point person for all work related to responding to and preventing lead poisoning;

·         Ensure that educational materials concerning the dangers of lead poisoning and the need for blood lead screening are made available to all families;

·         Offer lead safe work practice training for contractors, home owners, demolition experts, and redevelopment contractors doing work on pre-1978 housing;

·         Meet with landlords and tenants to offer educational information and assistance;

·         When a lead hazard is identified in an apartment of a multi-unit dwelling, notify

residents of the risk and urge that children between the ages of six months and six year olds be screened for elevated blood lead levels;

Lead remains in the environment years after its initial use.  It is toxic to the body’s tissue and enzymes and can cause brain damage, learning delays and, in extreme cases, coma and even death. Even though lead has been banned for decades, it still may be present in homes built prior to 1978 and is most commonly found in chipping or peeling paints, plumbing and surrounding soil. 

The New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate conducted a field investigation in late 2007 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.

At each of the 104 addresses inspected, one or more children had already been lead poisoned within the past 10 years; their homes therefore were or should have been inspected. Additionally, at least one-third of the homes had already undergone abatement.  Given these two factors, it is shocking that 82% of these homes had lead dust levels that exceeded the State standard.  

Over the course of the last year, the Public Advocate has directed his attention to establishing partnerships with local governments and community-based organizations to combine resources and work collaboratively to address the childhood lead poisoning problem.

To learn more about the dangers of childhood lead poisoning, to obtain a free home lead dust  testing kit, or to contact local health departments, visit us at www.state.nj.us/publicadvocate.

 

  

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