Excerpt from Yiddish
article in Der Yid’s June 7, 2019 edition
Children in Williamsburg and Boro
Park Have the Highest Blood Lead Levels in the City
Boro Park—The Boro Park Jewish Community Council (BPJCC) is now
launching a public campaign to bring parents’ attention to the high rate of
children in Boro Park with elevated levels of lead in their blood. High blood
lead level can negatively impact a child’s development and trigger a number of
serious health issues. The campaign encourages parents to have children ages
one and two tested for lead in their blood.
This campaign has been undertaken in conjunction with
United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg (UJO), which has been working for
several years with the New York City Department of Health to reduce the danger
to the public from lead.
Reports from the New York City Department of Health
indicate that the area including the Orthodox Jewish community of Williamsburg
had the highest rate in the city of children with a blood lead level of 5
micrograms per deciliter or more. Boro Park follows closely behind with the
second highest rate in the city of children with a blood lead level of 5 or
more.
High levels of lead in the blood can lead to many serious
health problems, among them brain development issues. Studies have found that
even low levels of lead in the blood can create behavioral and growth problems.
The most common source of lead poisoning is the dust from
lead-based paint in old homes, exposed after the paint peels or flakes off.
These bits of paint and dust fall onto toys or to the floor, where children may
lick them or put them in their mouths while crawling on the floor and playing
with their toys. Lead-based paints in homes have been banned in New York since
1960, but not banned nationwide until 1978.
People who live in old homes or whose children spend time
in such buildings should be especially vigilant for cracking or peeling paint,
which can be dangerous. Remember that even after being painted over many times,
the lead paint underneath can still be exposed when the paint cracks or peels
off.
The UJO has been addressing the issue for several years
now, to bring awareness to the public in Williamsburg about the dangers from
lead-based paint in old buildings and to educate parents on how to protect
their children. Now the BPJCC is undertaking a similar campaign in Boro Park in
conjunction with the UJO.
Last week ads were placed on bus shelters to inform
residents about the danger from lead and urging them to take steps to protect
their children. Ads with a similar message were hung up in Williamsburg through
the UJO, and they will also be published in newspapers.
“I was shaken,” says Rabbi Avi Greenstein, Executive
Director of the Boro Park, “that as many as 531 children in the Boro Park
neighborhood – that’s 20 to 25 full classes – were diagnosed in just one year
with high levels of lead in their blood as that can damage their abilities to
learn and to develop. If parents would know this, fact, they would certainly be
more careful to protect their children from the dangers of lead. We are
grateful to the UJO and the Health Department for enabling us to undertake this
campaign for the safety of Boro Park’s children.”
“Parent do everything so that their children will grow up
to be smart and healthy and will succeed in their studies. We were shocked to
hear about the high number of children with high levels of lead, which can
negatively affect their growth. We feel it our duty to inform the public about
this, to undertake the necessary steps and not to take the matter lightly,”
said Rabbi Moshe Dovid Niederman, Director of UJO. “In recent years, we have
staff in our office to provide the public with information about lead and also
to help homeowners apply for grants to repair lead problems. We are happy that
this service is spreading to Boro Park.”
In addition to the public awareness campaign, as of the
beginning of the summer, the Boro Park JCC will have a staff member on hand to assist
residents with information and other forms of aid to protect themselves and
their children from the dangers of lead.
