Councilwoman Reynolds Brown: Time to get the lead out!

In August, after over a year of maddening inaction by City Hall, PCCY assembled the Lead Free Philly Coalition to launch a meaningful strategy to protect the 2,400 children poisoned by toxic lead every year in Philadelphia.

The vast majority of children are poisoned by lead-based paint in their older homes, meaning each tragic incident could be prevented if the City would only follow our recommendation: Get the lead out.

On Thursday, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, PCCY’s longtime ally in the fight against childhood lead poisoning, answered the call and introduced a suite of bills calling for the expansion of the City’s lead disclosure law to apply to ALL pre-1978 rental properties.

“This new package of bills aims to close loopholes in the current law as well as increase awareness for new parents and caregivers on the negative lifelong and damaging effects of lead exposure during childhood,” said Reynolds Brown, who worked with PCCY to introduce the City’s first ever lead legislation in 2011.

“No parent should have to worry about whether the home they are providing for their children is poisoning them,” she said. “Lead poisoning is an issue of public health, as well as economic and environmental justice.”

Too many babies are still injured by lead poisoning in Philadelphia. Despite a decline in incidents in the city in the last ten years, the number of children poisoned remains intransigently high with around 2,400 poisoned every year. 

In the city’s five highest risk zip codes in North central and West Philadelphia, at least 1 in 15 children tested have elevated blood lead levels.  Many of these children live in low-income and minority neighborhoods. And because only 43% of children receive the required two blood lead tests by three years old, there are more children injured by lead we don’t know about. 

Unfortunately, the 2011 Lead Disclosure Law is falling far short of its intended outcome.  Many landlords have complied with the law, but too many have not. As of January 2018, landlords have only submitted 4,418 certificates for an estimated 26,000 rental units subject to the law. In practice, the law has turned out to be largely unenforceable.

The bills submitted by Reynolds Brown aim to close this harmful loophole.

By compelling the testing of all pre-1978 properties, this proposed legislation will protect children not only from lead poisoning in their homes, but also when they are playing at their grandparents and visiting with other friends and family.

The introduction of these bills is a testament to the power of persistent leadership and advocacy work to affect change in government. 

Your help is needed to educate City Council members about the unmet need to protect more babies and toddlers from lead poisoning.  Join PCCY’s #LeadFreePhilly Coalition – contact Colleen McCauley at colleenm@childrenfirstpa.org.