Duty to Protect: Enhancing the Federal Framework to Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning and Exposure to Environmental Harm

Abstract

Scientific evidence indisputably demonstrates that lead poisoning causes permanent neurological damage and numerous co-morbidities for children and adults. Exposure to lead hazards irreversibly harms individuals and, left unchecked, can devastate communities into the future. In recognition of these threats, the President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children (Task Force) was established by Executive Order in 1997. The original Task Force created the first coordinated federal response to eliminate childhood lead poisoning in the United States and set an ambitious ten-year timeline to achieve its goals of prevention, treatment, research, and progress management. However, the most recent Task Force retreated from these bold goals. Rather than eliminating lead poisoning, in 2018 the Task Force sought merely to reduce it. This Article provides a comprehensive overview of the dangers of lead exposure, details the federal government’s evolving response to lead poisoning, and, for the first time, disseminates previously unpublished comments on “Drafting a New Federal Strategy to Reduce Childhood Lead Exposures and Impacts,” submitted to the Task Force in 2017, ahead of its most recent report. By providing these comments publicly, this Article creates a record of critical recommendations to the Task Force, provides best practices for the federal government's response to lead poisoning, and encourages federal policymakers to take the necessary steps to meet the original goal of eradicating lead hazards and protecting children from lead poisoning.

Keywords: lead poisoning, social determinants of health, federal government, public health, housing,

JEL Classification: health education and welfare