This post is the last of five posts that digs deeper into the issue areas that will be featured at the SDC’s Symposium on Poverty – Family Relationships, Community Violence & Public Safety, Community Development, Neighborhood Development, and Job Creation & Workforce Development.
The Wisconsin Childhood Lead Poisoning Elimination Plan: Implementation and Oversight Committee submitted a proposal to be a part of the 2010 Poverty Symposium to be held on Wednesday, November 10 at the Italian Community Center. The presentation will provide information on the lead poisoning problem in Milwaukee and the disproportionate affect on families living in poverty.
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The occurrence of childhood lead poisoning in Wisconsin reinforces that not all communities are created equal and demonstrates yet another way racism is still alive and well in our society.
It has been widely proven in the research community that lead poisoning is the most serious environmental health threat facing young children in the United States. Much is known about the dangerous and long-lasting effects of lead poisoning, particularly in young children. Affected children are more likely to have behavioral problems, hyperactivity, learning disorders, and lowered IQs as a result of interrupted cognitive development. Numerous studies have also been commissioned that documents the excessive costs childhood lead poisoning places on other public institutions – most notably the justice system, public education, and public health.
Over time, institutions began to recognize the very high public costs and dangerous effects of lead poisoning and in 1978, Congress outlawed the use of lead paint. In the early 1990’s, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency both were charged with ensuring proper regulations and standards were set and followed. And in 1992, Congress passed the Lead Hazard Reduction Act that created criminal sanctions for property owners that failed to notify tenants of lead paint hazards in their buildings.
Despite all of these policy and institutional changes, children are still becoming lead poisoned at alarming rates and unfortunately, this is a problem that disproportionately affects minority children. Many critics have suggested that this is an individual level problem, i.e. parents are not watching their kids and they are eating paint chips in a dirty house. Even if this claim was true, and it is not, it does not explain all of the other environmental issues that also affect minorities at significantly higher rates: air and water pollution, toxic waste disposal, municipal landfill locations, and other industrial hazards.
Dr. Robert Bullard, a leading scholar on environmental justice issues, has consistently asked: “Why are environmental regulations vigorously enforced in some communities and not in others?” To him, the answer is environmental racism. Simply defined, environmental racism is the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color. The point of this post is not to determine whether or not environmental racism exists. There is a substantial amount of literature that suggests it does; independent of continued human or government intention. The questions that need to be answered are why does this still happen and what can we do to fix it?
Readers, what are your thoughts?
Brittany Rosales
Policy Analyst
Social Development Commission
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