Would you be willing to have your child roll up his or her sleeve and take a blood test to determine if they have lead poisoning?
Gov. Tom Wolf and the state Department of Health are backing universal, mandatory lead testing across Pennsylvania and are prepared to work with the lawmakers to advance such legislation through the state House and Senate, state Department of Health deputy press secretary Wes Culp told The Era on Thursday.
“The governor would support legislation that would require a blood lead test of every Pennsylvania child at 12 months and 24 months and require any child between the ages of 36 to 83 months without a documented lead test to receive one,” Culp said.
The proposal comes after a recently released study, “Blood Lead Levels in Young Children: US, 2009-2015,” that puts Pennsylvania as the second state with the highest proportion of high blood lead levels at 7.8 percent, behind Minnesota with 10.4 percent.
The six-year study, conducted by researchers at Quest Diagnostics, hailed as the world’s leading provider of diagnostic information services, examined 5,266,408 blood lead levels test results of infants and children under age six in the United States. The Era could not gain access to this study, which was published online in the Journal of Pediatrics.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has pinpointed a blood lead level equal to or greater than 5 micrograms per deciliter as a threshold to identify children with elevated blood lead levels. The study revealed greater than 3 percent of children throughout the country had blood lead levels at or above this level.
For his part, state Rep. Martin Causer, R-Turtlepoint, said he is not in favor of mandatory testing for lead.
“Mandatory testing would come at a significant cost to parents and taxpayers, even though the risk of exposure is very low or non-existent for many children,” Causer said.
Causer said the larger concern with lead exposure across the state is from lead-based paint, something typically used in homes constructed before the late 1970s.
“I believe the best and most cost-effective way to protect our children is to allow pediatricians and parents to discuss a child’s risk of lead exposure and then proceed with testing if necessary,” he said.
State Rep. Matt Gabler, R-DuBois, shares similar views, calling the legislation well-intended but an inefficient use of medical resources.
“When government officials create sweeping mandates without medical expertise, we often see increased costs and decreased efficiency without any guarantee of improved medical outcomes,” he said. “I believe it is best that we allow doctors to determine who is at risk for lead poisoning and conduct testing accordingly. This will allow us to target our limited medical resources in the best manner possible to maximize patient outcomes.”
For his part, state Rep. Matt Baker, R-Wellsboro, said the proposal brings several questions to mind. Such as, who would pay for the hundreds of thousands of blood tests, would parents have to shell out money for the tests, are there exemptions for religious objections or financial hardship, and should doctors and pediatricians determine testing?
“It seems to me that NYS (New York state) just passed lead testing in schools and that their public funding in support of schools would pay for this cost,” said Baker, who is the majority chairman of the state House Health Committee.
Culp said state officials remain devoted to addressing the issue and working with lawmakers to tackle the issue.
“When looking at new legislative initiatives, the safety and well-being of children should always be a top priority,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Brockway. “However, it is also critical that government not overstep the rights of parents. I look forward to discussing this matter and determining the best way to protect our children.”
Meanwhile, Culp said the state is in the process of examining the available data as well as funding sources for lead abatement
“In addition, we are working with county and municipal health departments to gather additional information on activities happening on the community level. Finally, we are developing a plan with health care providers with the goal of increasing the number of tests performed on high-risk children between the ages of 1 and 2,” he said.
Culp said the state Department of Health and its partners have made large and meaningful gains in protecting children from being exposed to the risks resulting from hundreds of years of industrial and residential lead use.
Consider that the state Department of Health has educated and intervened; the federal government and the state Department of Labor and Industry has ensured contractors are using best practices to protect themselves and their customers during renovation projects; the state Department of Environmental Protection has monitored drinking water; and the healthcare community has conducted best practices for lead testing and follow-up, according to Culp.
“These alarming (study) findings show that while our nation has made progress in addressing lead exposure, our public health successes are neither complete nor demographically consistent,” said Harvey W. Kaufman, senior medical director, Quest Diagnostics and a study author. “We have a long way to go, both in terms of contaminated water and residual lead-based paint, to reduce disparities that put some of our children at disproportionate risk of exposure to lead.”
The state Department of Health’s Lead Surveillance Program tracks and monitors childhood lead activity through the Pennsylvania National Electronic Disease Surveillance System, a web-based application system. Through PA-NEDSS, the Division of Child and Adult Health Services can identify potential high-risk areas, locate areas of under-testing, and identify other potential service gaps.
“This Quest Diagnostics study may offer value to healthcare policymakers considering policies to protect young children from long-lasting impacts of exposure, and to clinicians, who may use the geographic findings to guide screening determinations in high prevalence areas,” Kaufman said.
