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Michigan may require lead screening of all young children

Flint water pipes
FlintWaterStudy.org | Min Tang, Kelsey Pieper

Michigan will consider requiring all infants and toddlers to be tested for lead as part of an initiative to eradicate children's exposure to the neurotoxin.

The recommendation is among many unveiled Thursday by a state board formed in the wake of Flint's water crisis. The emergency stems from old lead pipes contaminating drinking water after the city switched to improperly treated water while under state management.

But lead poisoning is more frequently linked to paint and dust in older housing and soil.

The board's report to Governor Rick Snyder calls for the screening of all children for lead by the time they turn 1 and again between ages 2 and 3. Such testing currently is only required for low-income kids in the Medicaid or Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) programs.

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