CLEVELAND, April 4, 2006 - Today, at noon, the Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Committee (GCLAC) will launch their 2006 Lead Safe Living Awareness Campaign at the City Club of Cleveland. The City Club will also host Dr. Bruce Lanphear, MD, MPH Sloan Professor of Children's Environmental Health and the Director of the Cincinnati Children's Environmental Health Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati.

The Lead Safe Living campaign will be the first Childhood Lead Poisoning prevention campaign ever in Cuyahoga County. The campaign is designed to raise the awareness and motivate the community to learn more and about childhood lead poisoning. The primary audiences for the campaign are parents and medical providers, says Matt Carroll, Interim Director, Cleveland Department of Public Health. Prevention starts with parents learning the risks, testing their children and reducing the lead hazards in their homes.

Children six years old and under are most at risk from lead poisoning because their bodies and nervous systems are still developing. Lead poisoning in children, even at low levels, can cause developmental problems, learning disabilities, impaired hearing and behavioral problems. The primary sources of lead exposure for children are deteriorating lead-based paint, lead contaminated dust and lead in residential soil. Minority and low-income children are disproportionately affected by lead poisoning since they are more likely to live in pre-1978 housing containing lead-based paint.

Mike Foley, Executive Director of Cleveland Tenants Organization is thrilled with the efforts of the GCLAC and the campaign.  “This addresses one of the major concerns of rental housing in Cuyahoga County. We are hopeful that this campaign and the efforts of the GCLAC will help prevent unsafe living conditions for renters.

Lead exposure among young children has been drastically reduced over the last two decades because of the phase-out of lead from gasoline, beverage cans, new house paint, federal, state and local regulations on lead in paint, reductions of lead in industrial emissions, drinking water, consumer goods, hazardous sites and other sources. As a result of these past and on-going efforts, children's blood-lead levels have declined over 80 percent since the mid-70s.

In 1978, there were about 14.8 million children in the United States with elevated blood-lead levels. Currently, approximately 434,000 U.S. children age 1-5 years have blood-lead levels greater than the Centers for Disease Control recommended level of 10 μg/dL.

Lead poisoning is still one of the most serious public health concerns facing children in Cuyahoga County. Rates of childhood lead poisoning are well above 20% in many Cleveland neighborhoods and East Cleveland. Cleveland’s rate is in the top five nationally, with the current U.S. overall rate at under 2%, says Terry Allan, Health Commissioner, Cuyahoga County Board of Health.

The Lead Safe Living campaign will launch in May of 2006 with billboards, kiosk, and bus advertisements. The efforts of this campaign are supported by all the participating agencies of the Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council and funded by a grant from the Saint Luke's Foundation of Cleveland.

For more information about the Lead Safe Living campaign, contact Christine Haley Medina at 216-664-4676.