Rate of Lead Poisoning in PA Counties (2012-2014)

Much attention has been focused on the lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan due the failure of the state to include anti-corrosive additives to the water that would flow through lead pipes. Lead poisoning is a serious issue because it can cause ADHD, learning disabilities, lower IQs/cognitive abilities, and other issues (see http://www.vox.com). In fact, lead poisoning is such a serious issue that the Environmental Protection Agency stated that, “”no demonstrated safe concentration of lead in blood”.

As shown by Mother Jones, the confirmed lead poisoning rate in Flint jumped from around 3.6% to 5.1% and then to 6.1%.

What was stunning to me was the map included in the VOX article about lead–a number of counties in Pennsylvania were among those with the greatest rates of confirmed lead poisoning cases.

So, I went to the CDC site from which VOX obtained their data and downloaded the lead data by county for Pennsylvania from 2012 to 2014. I summed the data across all three years and then calculated the conformed lead poisoning cases for children 6 years old and younger over the three year time span. Astonishingly, a number of counties had confirmed lead poisoning rates greater than 3% and Blair, Schuylkill, and York counties had rates greater than 4.0%. Incredibly, Warren county had a rate of 5.7%–nearly the same rate as Flint.

Below is a map of the rates by county (please excuse the terrible colors and poor legibility).

Dark Blue: < 1.0%; Light Blue: 1.0% to 1.9%; Purple 2.0% to 2.9%;
Orange < 3.0% to 3.9%; Red: 4.0% to 4.9%; Yellow 5.0% or greater

[map file is missing]

In total, there were more than 5,100 confirmed cases of lead poisoning in PA children age 6 or younger. Frighteningly, another 21,000 children had test results that suggested lead poisoning, but the cases were not confirmed–often because not enough testing was conducted. And think of how many children are NEVER tested! These results are very, very likely to under-estimate the problem in PA.

Further, poor and minority children are the most likely to suffer lead poisoning. These children already face tremendous barriers to success and lead poisoning becomes a monumental and irreversible barrier to these children meeting their potential and enjoying a normal life.

Thus a number of children will have diminished educational careers and restricted life chances because of lead exposure. Less important to me (but very important to some people) is that taxpayers have to pay for the medical and educational needs of the children and lose the future tax revenue from these individuals when they are unable to take higher-paying jobs due to diminished capacity.

Bottom line: we as a society need to ensure kids are free from exposure to lead. The state has resources and even some grant competitions to eradicate lead. Let’s make sure the Commonwealth provides a safe childhood–free of lead–for ALL kids!