Data from the 2020 Childhood Lead Surveillance report from the Pennsylvania DOH showed the rate of children with elevated blood lead levels to be about 4.65. This is a rate two times higher than children poisoned in Flint, Mich., at the peak of the city’s crisis, according to a recent statement from the Lead-Free Promise Project, a nonprofit in Pennsylvania.
Children with high lead levels, and lead poisoning qualify for a free screening from Pennsylvania’s Early Intervention program which offers coaching support and services to families with children, from birth to age five, with developmental delays and disabilities.
“The best treatment is prevention,” said Dr. Robert Cicco, a retired pediatrician and neonatologist currently working with lead safe groups in Pittsburgh.