Baltimore County, MD Hello Baltimore County, 1 Mar 2017

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From YouTube: Lead Paint Poisoning - Hello Baltimore County

Description

Dangerous lead paint can be prevalent in any home built before 1978. Find out how to find it and fix it.

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Welcome to hello, baltimore county., I'm your host, ellen kobler.

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Lead paint poisoning is a major concern for children.

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In any home built before 1979.

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We have in studio one of our local experts to tell us all we need to know. david fielder, from lead safe, baltimore county..

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Thank you so much for joining us., thanks for having me,, ellen. so, tell us a little bit about lead, safe, baltimore county and how you've been working with the residents.

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sure. so, in the last about year and a half.

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We've assisted about 75 families in baltimore, county.

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But we're always looking to increase our numbers, because we know that those families are out there that need the assistance of the program.

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in baltimore county alone, every year. There's about 150 new cases.

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Of lead poisoning in children reported to the health department.

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So, we're looking to kind of combat those numbers.

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And that is only with 30 percent of the population.

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Of children under six being tested.

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Only a third are being tested? correct.

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Now, there is new legislation for the state of maryland.

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Where all children, ages, six months and 72 months, will be tested.

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So expect to see an increase in the numbers of children that are testing positive.

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Is it a blood test? is: is a blood test., that's correct., okay, and so not to state the obvious,, but literally these children have lead,, which is a very dangerous heavy metal,.

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In their blood.

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And that can't be good., it isn't good.. It's a neurotoxin.

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And that is affects children specifically because they are--.

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Have growing minds, growing bodies, and it can affect them developmentally and cause learning disabilities later in life.

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In high doses, it can cause tremors in the body.

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And even coma, in really high doses.

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Oh my goodness!, okay.

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and so,. How do children get the lead in their bodies?.

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Is it mostly paint? is it--, we don't have a problem in the water system?.

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Water systems typically are not the problem..

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We usually look at housing issues and that comes in the form of lead, paint, poisoning., and so how it happens is in the east coast of the country,.

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We have older housing stock,, mostly built before 1978.

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That is the cut-off year that industry was allowed to use lead in paint.

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So that's the critical year.

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and we have families living in that older housing stock that may not have been renovated over time.

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or a well-meaning homeowner could be renovating the house on their own.

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And not realizing what they are: exposing their children, to.

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Okay., so is it mostly just when you go do renovations, or can it just be in the home?

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it can be just in the home.

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Just the daily use of windows and doors can cause small amounts of lead paint to come off. Those items.

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And then build up over time on window sills and in front of doors.

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Okay,, so this has been a known problem since 19-- the late 1970s.

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Why are children still experiencing lead paint poisoning from their homes?.

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Well, again, because of the housing stock that folks are living in.

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In baltimore county and in baltimore city, washington, d.c.,.

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All along the east coast, and just being exposed.

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To those older homes can cause lead, paint poisoning.

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Okay, so, let's sort of speak to the parents and grandparents who are out there.? What should you look for?? What should you do? you know, to prevent this tragedy.

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So, the best way to address the situation.

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Is to have your child tested for lead paint, poisoning.

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And that will let you know if you need to take action.

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Okay,, and do you do that at the doctor, health department...?.

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Pediatricians is the first source to go to for that kind of testing.

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Or there are other medical centers that you can have the testing done as well.

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Okay. and so,, let's say that you find out.

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That the child does have lead paint poisoning..

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Well,, the next step would be to remove the child from that property.

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And address those sources of lead, paint poisoning, and that's where lead safe, baltimore county can come in to assist owners of homes that may have that situation.

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Okay, you bring contractors in to scrape away the old paint?.

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We do., we have a whole program that someone gets into where we test the whole house for lead paint.

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We develop a scope of work,, which would list out specifically.

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What needs to be addressed, and that gets assigned to a contractor.

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Within our contractor pool, and then the work would start from there.

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Okay. and what happens is the children literally eat the paint chips.

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Is that how it gets into their system?, not necessarily eating it,, but they can ingest it.

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By just hand-to-mouth, action.

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so,, a child could be playing on the floor or grabbing a window. Sill.

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And then they put their hands in their mouth, and that's--.

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Which they do constantly, little kids. and is it just inside the home or can it also be exterior paint?.

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It can be exterior or interior.

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lots. Of-- lead paint was a very durable paint,, so it was used on a lot of exterior surfaces, as well as interior.

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And it was promoted., it was promoted.

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I've seen some ads from the past, you know, "highest content of lead, possible", et cetera.

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Okay,, so what would you suggest is sort of the first step.

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That somebody that might be viewing this should do?.

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Well, they could find resources through our website,.

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If they search "lead, safe, baltimore, county," they'll find us at the baltimore county website.

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There they can download an application.

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if they don't have that ability, we're happy to mail it out to them.

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We can drive it out to their house and talk them through.

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The requirements to get into the program.

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Okay, and so obviously you can test the child's blood,, but if you want to be more proactive,, is there a way you can test the paint?.

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Absolutely. we try to be proactive.

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You can test the paint in the house? we do. and that's what we try to do,.

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Is prevent any kind of lead paint poisoning to begin with.

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and, if folks get involved with the program,, we can address that situation before it ever becomes an issue for them.

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Okay, and children are not just in their own home.

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I presume this could also be at a grandparent's house, at a daycare.

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We reach out to grandparents, aunts and uncles, anyone that has a child visiting their home or living in that home for any period of time.

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so,. If you're caring for children after school or on the weekends,.

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You would be eligible for the program as well.

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okay, and if anybody has any questions,.

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They can contact you and go to your website.

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absolutely. okay, great, well,. Thank you so much for being with us today..

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I appreciate it. thank you. and thank you for watching hello, baltimore, county.

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and remember,. You can connect with baltimore county government on facebook and twitter. ( ♪♪♪ ).