Every infant and toddler in Michigan should be tested for lead. That’s one of the recommendations of a task force looking for ways to eliminate childhood lead poisoning.
Testing of infants and two-year-olds would catch early exposure. But the task force wasn’t just looking for ways to help kids poisoned by lead. It wants to track where lead has contaminated homes, day care centers and other structures.
Doctor Mona Hanna-Attisha is a pediatrician in Flint, who first called attention to the water crisis in her city. She says universal testing and a registry of lead-tainted structures will help with solutions.
“We don’t know how big the problem is, and we don’t know where these hot spots are.”
The state has a federal grant to get things started, but the Legislature may also have to provide more money and resources to end the risk of childhood lead exposure.