Childhood Lead Poisoning in New York State
New York’s Poison Lead Crisis
Children in New York State are being poisoned by lead at higher rates than any other state in the country. In fact, most New York State cities test positive for lead at 5 times the rate of children in Flint.
Poison lead can be found all throughout a house – in the paint, in the water, even in the dust. The health impacts of lead poisoning are devastating and can affect a child’s mental, physical, and developmental well-being. Undiagnosed lead poisoning can also create behavioral issues that are dismissed as “bad behavior” and lead to punishment instead of treatment for affected children.
Black and brown children and those in low-income or immigrant communities are at the highest risk of exposure to poison lead. Children in these communities are not protected the same as children in white, middle and upper income communities, and their stories are not told nearly as widely. Structural racism allows our government, unethical landlords, and corporate polluters to deny the basic human rights of entire groups of people, literally poisoning children with impunity.
This has to stop – our children cannot continue to serve as test strips for poison lead in New York homes.
Take Action
Click here to send a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Speaker Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie calling on them to take action to end childhood lead poisoning in our state.
Regional Lead Prevention Resources
- Capital District – Albany County Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (county website)
- Central New York – Lead Freedom CNY
- Hudson Valley – Dutchess County Lead Poisoning Prevention (county website)
- Mohawk Valley – Lead-Free MV
- North Country – Jefferson County Department of Health (county website)
- NYC – NYC Lead Poisoning Prevention (city website)
- Rochester – Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning
- Southern Tier – Broome County Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (county website)